life+running » giveaway

Fitmixer Amino Winner + Austin Photo Dump Recap

chimes — Wed, 23 May 2012 15:00:00 +0000

HELLO bloglings!

I am BACK. Finally. It seems like it has been so much longer than 5 days. Driving from Iowa to Texas is kind of a long trip, in case you were wondering.

While I was out, I was working on trying to do the Fitmixer Bootcamp (week 1) while on the road. Which proved to be pretty impossible given we had a schedule to adhere to that required us to be somewhere between 8 and 9 AM and not get back until 8 or 9 PM — just in time to get dinner and go to bed to do it all over again. And the other days were spent in the car.

Speaking of Fitmixer, I had a pretty decent response to my Fitmixer amino giveaway from last Monday. I promised that today would be the day that I’d reveal a winner. The winner is MELANIE:

I’ve tweeted her in hopes she will send me her address so that Fitmixer can send her favorite flavor of amino to her.

Sad that you didn’t win? Really want to try these blasted aminos that everybody has been talking about? No worries! I’ve got a link on my sidebar to their shop so you can easily order some.

Thanks to everybody who participated! I will have another giveaway within a week. I’ll give you a hint: It’s a little tart.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

[Thursday "dinner" in Bethany, KS — Sonic mini Butterfinger blast ... not fro yo but better than a burger.]

[Super 8 in Wichita, KS. Don't rent to the locals. It's the law.]

[Friday AM workout — booty burner from Fitmixer Bootcamp]

[Ready to roll on Friday — 9+ hours of driving]

[Readymade protein shakes are awesome options for eating on the road — so much better than Cheetohs]

[MADE it to Austin! Amanda and I in the back of our friends' car — on the way to get sushi. And Fro Yo. Neither of which I managed to photograph — I know. Weird.]

[Black Metal beer from Jester King Craft Brewery in Austin. Not gluten free, but I bought for the bottle and for Mark. Plus, it sounds DELICIOUS.]

[up and ready to go early Saturday AM for Renegade.]

[menagerie of dip bowls made by Amanda ... price-tagged by me.]

[cupcake stands. Portal. Eddie Izzard. GEEK.]

[Actually wore a dress I haven't worn in years — made from an XL t-shirt. cut off the sleeves and added them to the bottom to make it a dress.]

[my boot camp bottle got a LOT of use last weekend!]

[the booth across from us. seriously. I felt like we were in Portland.]

[first purchase! necklace from Alexa at Foamy Wader. It's really PINK.]

[downloaded an iPad app called "paper" and was sketching a bit all weekend.]

[cute guest room at our friends' house — they rent and all the walls are that color!]

[wearing a dress I bought from Madeline Wood ... and sporting new earrings I picked up that AM from Alana Douvros — at wholesale price ... SNAG!]

[Amanda procured a cupcake from another vendor to put on her stands]

[and she then enjoyed some kielbasa sausage as an afternoon snack / late lunch. lol.]

[I worked on some embroidery during the show and in the car. sorry. no swear words this time.]

[HEALTHY BITES brought to me by my Blend, Lindsay Cotter, who I FINALLY got to meet in person. She makes these little amaze-balls of joy.]

[YAY — Lindsay wasn't able to make it to Blend, and I'm really glad we were able to meet in person! Thanks for stopping by, lady!]

[getting ready to pack up!]

[before packing up, I ran around and made some last-minute purchases ... like this card that I am totally giving to a friend for his upcoming wedding.]

[mistaken lyrics coasters from Play with Lasers]

[awesome print ... now framed and hanging in my living room]

[REVENGE PICKLE. Amanda took this photo at Rudy's BBQ ... which is in a gas station. and is the best BBQ EVER.]

[RUDY'S. I may or may not have tracked this meal ... sorry Fitmixer Bootcamp — or really, sorry ass and thighs. Clockwise from top: Potato salad, onions and pickles, cutter's choice brisket, extra moist (read: EXTRA FAT) brisket and a diet root beer.]

[our friends had 2 cats: Neo and Tater Tot. Tater Tot was fixated on a nail hole in the wall in the hall]

[I managed to sneak in the cards workout from Fitmixer Bootcamp the day we started driving back to Iowa. YAY. I want to do this one again!]

[we went to Whole Foods on the way back and I found a LAVENDER-flavored Kombucha. Not my favorite. But I'd never seen it before, so I had to try!]

[bought a second necklace. from Alana Douvros. And the two necklaces layer quite nicely.]

[almost home. ALMOST.]

[playing some PvZ all the way from Bethany, KS to Ames, IA]

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Austin was CRAZY and the trip was LONG. I want to go back again and experience a bunch of other things. I was mostly in the Palmer Event Center at Renegade the whole time I was there, and you know me, I’m an outdoorsy person. I wanted to be outside in the lovely weather!

What did you do last weekend? How do you feel about BBQ at a gas station?? And would you try Lavender Kombucha (or just kombucha if you haven’t tried it)?

Share on Facebook

FitMixer Bootcamp + Fitmixer Amino Giveaway

chimes — Mon, 14 May 2012 15:00:00 +0000

You might have noticed this badge on my sidebar:

I am doing the Fitmixer Boot Camp — which starts TODAY. Thank you to Janetha for blogging about this opportunity because I’m PUMPED to participate.

What is Fitmixer Boot Camp? Well, their website gives a pretty good synapsis. But to me, it’s a chance to finally shed a little bit of body fat and shred my muscles a little bit more.

Why am I doing this in addition to what I already do? I need a kick in the ass when it comes to nutrition. Sure, I eat clean. But I could do better. And when I met Candice, the super-fantastically-fit gal who put together my nutrition plan for this, she mentioned that I am really active (duh) and that sometimes when we are so active, our body likes to store. I love being outdoors. I love lifting weights. I love getting my heart pounding — I don’t want to stop being active. But with the right nutrition I can keep this lifestyle and see great results.

So here’s my before photo (which you probably have already seen — and yes, I’m finishing up LiveFit — probably this week, in case you were wondering):

Already looking pretty good, if I do say so myself. However, I want to shred down a bit more. And if nothing else, I’d like to rethink my nutrition because it’s something I know I can be better at and what you fuel your body with is 70% of what you get as results (I can’t remember where I read that, but seriously. You can’t outrun a bad diet.)

When I signed up for boot camp, I got Fitmixer Protein and Fitmixer Slim (I’m a HUGE believer in protein smoothies as meal replacements when I’m in a hurry — so I am loving this already). I got a nutrition plan. And no, the nutrition plan doesn’t say “drink a fitmixer product for every meal and snack”. Not even close. It tells me how many calories and how much protein, carbs and fat I should ingest daily. And no, to all you crazy fad dieters out there, it isn’t 800 calories. It isn’t even as little as the normal amount of calories I’ve gotten when I’ve used LiveStrong in the past to help me lose weight. I get 1400–1700 calories daily. Which, to me, is kind of a lot. However, this is how much I eat. Not net calories (net calories are what’s left after you subtract calories burned from activity). I have to hit 135 g of protein each day and not go over 27 g of fat. So yeah, I’m probably going to be drinking one of the Fitmixer protein shakes each day. But I drink a smoothie for breakfast most days anyway, so this isn’t going to rock my world — I’ll just be using a different product than I’ve been using.

So now that you’ve seen my awkward bikini photo and heard about a few of the things I got with boot camp, here’s the giveaway portion of this post.

Along with the Fitmixer Slim and Fitmixer Protein, I got Fitmixer Amino.

What the heck is that? I thought I probably wouldn’t use it because it looked like glorified Kool-Aid. But I tried it at Blend and I am HOOKED (so are Lauren and Katie from what instagram has been showing me).

It’s not Kool-Aid (though I feel like I “drank the Kool-Aid” because I’m such a believer now). It’s energy. And it helps retain muscle mass. It makes me less sore during and after workouts.

If you work out in the AM and don’t typically eat beforehand, your body eats your muscles. Gross. I know. And I’m pretty sure that your body goes for the muscle tissue before it goes for fat. This is why I’ve been kicking my ass in the gym, but my ass doesn’t look like I want it to look.

Anyway, I’ll quit before I start sounding like an infomercial. Instead, I’m giving away one bottle of Fitmixer Amino. In grape. Or fruit punch. Your choice! Both flavors are good (well I hate grape flavored anything, but it’s good from what I’ve heard). All you have to do is leave a comment. Any comment. Though, I do enjoy hearing about why you think this product would help you, or any personal weight loss / fitness goals you have or have met.

Fitmixer is on Facebook. And Twitter. I follow them because I like to keep up on their endeavors, such as boot camp, and any special offers or coupons. Give them a follow if you’re interested (not part of the giveaway).

Giveaway ends at midnight on Wednesday, May 23. I will announce a winner on May 25. Good luck!

Share on Facebook

Sweet Tunes Thursday: JEW + HAIRRRRRRRRRR + Chobani Winner

chimes — Thu, 03 May 2012 15:00:00 +0000

The winner of the Chobani giveaway is:

Heather!

I’ll need your address so the good people at Chobani can send you your yogurt!

Thanks everybody … especially Chobani … for participating.

Also, Lindsay (one of the people who put together BLEND) from Lindsay’s List recently posted a Firestarter Workout, which reminded me of the awesome Jimmy Eat World cover of the Prodigy song. I love the Jimmy Eat World cover of Firestarter so much. Unfortunately YouTube isn’t letting me embed it. But there’s no video anyway. So click the link, and enjoy! Also, here’s the entire Firestarter EP on Spotify. You’re welcome.

It’s been so long since my love affair with JEW (and College Boyfriend) that I almost forgot about them. I was wearing my JEW t-shirt the other day in Marshall’s and the kid working was all, “Whoa, is that a Jimmy Eat World t-shirt? That is OLD SCHOOL.” And I felt really old.

Now that you’ve been yogurted and Jimmyed, I have to share a little secret with you: I CUT MY HAIR.

I know. I told you all I was growing it out. And I tried. REALLY I tried.

But, this is the face of a girl that cannot STAND to go one more moment with this ridiculous mess of hair.

I said if I get to the end of April and I can’t ponytail it, then I’m cutting it.

Guess what? It wouldn’t ponytail. Not without a LOT of cheating and a ton of bobby pins. DOES. NOT. COUNT!

So on Tuesday of this week (just in time for BLEND*) I decided it was time.

I created a photo collage of the two cuts I’ve been digging and brought it to my salon-ista.

And here’s how it turned out. I was expecting longer bangs … and I was having a hard time with the shorter bangs the night that it got cut, but I think I’m okay with it now. I reallllllly like how it looks from the side and back. Either way — so glad to have all that mess of hair gone.

Oh, and I decided to color my hair back to my natural color last weekend. That way it’s easier to keep up when it starts growing out. I also didn’t want to look like a leopard when I left the salon. And I had been mistaken for a college AND high school student several times in the last few weeks … the light blonde hair doesn’t help.

* I’m driving there right now … and typing this. I’m multi-talented — just kidding — I wouldn’t do that. I purposely scheduled my hair reveal for today so I didn’t have to hear whining about how I cut it all off again.

Have you ever gotten your hair cut on impulse? If so, how did that turn out for you (pix please!)?

Share on Facebook

Humpday Blog Love: Better with Veggies + Chobani Giveaway

chimes — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:56:00 +0000

I’m guest blogging over at Chobani today — head over to see all my frozen yogurt recipes all rounded up. And keep reading for an awesome giveaway sponsored by Chobani!

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Meet Heather, from Better with Veggies. A vegan. A triathlete. A runner. A dog owner. A foodie. And a Whovian too.

Heather is (of course) a fellow Blend and I’m excited to meet her (and everybody else … it’s only a little over a week away!).

She’s from Atlanta, and besides running on gorgeous trails (with the Garmin that I covet) …

[ source ]

… she’s been brewing beer with her hubs lately. I’m extremely jealous of this because we neither have room to do this nor can I drink this kind of beer anymore.

[ source ]

She also has a plethora of delicious recipes. Including DONUTS. Yes. Donuts. And kale chips. I am pretty sure her blog is where I first learned about kale chips.

If you have a chance, RUN over to her blog and say hello. The scenery is beautiful over there.

[ source ]

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Okay — giveaway time! Chobani has graciously allowed me to host a giveaway of a 32 oz. container of vanilla AND plain yogurt — perfect to use for the base of your own batch of frozen yogurt.

To win? I could have you do all sorts of crazy things like tweet, facebook, pin recipes, etc., but today I’m taking a tip from one of my favorite bloggers and all you have to do is leave a comment. Any comment. Though ideas about yogurt and frozen yogurt are welcome. As well as cute dog stories.

Good luck!

Share on Facebook

cookie cookie cookie: giveaway winner

chimes — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Monster cookies always remind me of cookie monster … which then leads me to think about this song by Brian Posehn in which he refers to metal vocals as “cookie monster” and screams “cookie cookie cookie!”

Alllllllrighty. I’m sure you’re dying to know who won twelve delightful balls of awesomeness?

We had 3 entries. Which is sad. I would like to see more than 3 entries, and one of them was my MOM. Maybe next time I’ll give away something more awesome? I’d like to think my cookies are pretty awesome though.

Oh, and speaking of my mom. She won. I guess I’m saving on shipping!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Share on Facebook

new wheels, traditions & a peanut buttery chocolatey GIVEAWAY

chimes — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Starting Tuesday I’m going to be a bike commuter. It’s only 2.5 miles to work, and it will actually be faster because I won’t have to wait to left turn into the traffic flow at 7:45 AM … it’s quite hectic. There’s a middle school right next to our place, so it’s darn near impossible to get out with busses, kiddos being dropped off and frantic parents driving away. I’ll have one major road to cross on my bike ride to work, but otherwise it’s smooth sailing.

My old bike is more than half my age, though it’s been revamped and tuned up several times. It just wasn’t going to cut it for the ride to work with all the junk I take with me.

Bye bye old bike. We’ve had some good times. A LOT of good times considering we’ve hung together since 7th grade. I’m selling it on Criagslist if anybody’s interested.

I got a new set of wheels that’s more appropriate to what I want to do. And look at this ultra-plush seat!

She’s a beaut. And pink. Not one of my requirements in a bike, but it happened to come in this color. I can’t wait to ride!

In other news, it’s FRIDAY! And I have a vacation day. It’s not as exciting as it sounds … got a bunch of appointments crammed into the AM and cleaning this afternoon.

BUT, as I’ve probably mentioned before, Mark and I do pizza Friday — make our own pizzas, each with our own favorite toppings — and it’s becoming my new favorite tradition. There’s another thing that’s quickly becoming a tradition that I might let y’all in on at the bottom of this post.

Mark makes the best crusts, but I can’t eat his crusts anymore. So I have been using UDI’s gluten-free crusts. Not quite the same, but definitely taste like a good pizza crust.

My current favorite toppings? Goat cheese + fresh tomatoes + broccoli + garlic. YUM.

However, I saw this antipasto pizza from Taste and Tell the other day, and I might have to swap out my usual and try the olives and red peppers, but keep the goat cheese of course.

[ source ]

I’m making cookies this weekend for this month’s Cookie of the Month Club installment for my dad and grandpa. And, as you probably have guessed, I’m using the recipe that’s quickly becoming another new tradition in our house: chimesmonster cookies.

Oh, and here’s where you come in.

I have to make enough cookies for my dad and grandpa, but don’t want to send ALL of what the recipe makes to the two of them. That recipe makes 5-6 dozen. I also know how fast these disappear when left in my hands.

JUST LOOK AT ALL THESE [ there are 2 full trays in the oven at this point, and one more on the counter behind me ].

Giveaway time.

Want to win a dozen chimesmonster cookies? They’re awesome. So I know you do.

Use the lovely rafflecopter widget … which I’ve seen everywhere and have been dying to try … to enter this contest. All you need to do is tell me what you’d mix in to your ultimate monster cookies. Keep in mind that you can swap any nut butter for the peanut butter, and you can mix in up to 2 cups of whatever combo you choose. Possibilities are endless!

Make sure you include a contact method with your entry. The contest ends on Sunday, March 18. I’ll notify the winner within 24 hours of the contest ending.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Share on Facebook

FQS Giveaway!

chimes — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 16:00:00 +0000

I love giveways, especially ones that involve fabulous fabric.

Quokka Quilts is hosting a blogger’s choice giveaway for 12 print fat quarters and 3 solids (holy cow!) of your choice from Fat Quarter Shop.

Since I mostly make bags, I picked a bunch of patterns conducive to bag-making. I also mocked up a couple of bag patterns.

First, these are the fabrics I chose. I went through and picked my favorite fabrics without thinking about putting them together. I didn’t read the rules all the way through … they are PICKING the best ones. I doubt I will get picked, but putting random fabric patterns together and making them look pretty is kind of what I do, so …

And now? How about a couple of ideas for what I might do with them. Stack them (wonkily and not straight of course):

Wow that’s a lot of fabrics. Okay, now for the bags I could create using a bit of ALL of these fabrics.

Probably with an orange zipper on that one.

And a turquoise zipper on this one. Obviously the patterns would translate into bigger than what they’re shown here, but you get the picture.

Anyway, here is the part where I say … pick me! Please.

Share on Facebook

I won!

chimes — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:00:00 +0000

As you all know I participated in Giveaway Day last week and gave away one of my little zippy bags.

Well I also participated by entering a ton of giveaways for cute sewing supplies. And I won a really interesting one from Kukoshop. Kukoshop is the blog/shop of an American named Karen who lives in Japan. She focuses on the theme “cute stuff from afar”.

Check out all the adorable Japanese swag I’m getting:

[calendar with a cute sewing project every month]

[fun stuff from the 100 yen store ... which is like a Japanese dollar store]

[lots of scraps of fabric]

[and a little notecard set]

Too cute! I’m really excited to get this in the mail. Thanks, Karen!

Share on Facebook

… and the winner is

chimes — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:00:00 +0000

The winner of the zippy pouch is …

Heather!

~~… but she didn’t leave her e-mail address or at least disqus isn’t giving it to me. I’m going to dig through my e-mails and see if the notification e-mail gave me her e-mail.~~ FOUND IT! I just e-mailed her.

~~If not, I will be choosing a runner up next week!~~

Share on Facebook

Tu-tu-tu-Tuesday: Crochet Bows

chimes — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:30:00 +0000

I recently discovered a new adorable thing to do with all those scraps of yarn that I have from making various knit projects: Crochet bows.

[photo credit Happy Together]

Check out this tutorial from Happy Together to make your own. Even if you’ve never crocheted before, these are pretty dang easy to make. It’s pretty much two little blocks strategically glued together.

You can glue these to a pin or a hair clip. How cute! Easy peasy last-minute Christmas gifts.

Speaking of crafting, you should check out my giveaway for giveaway day if you’ve not entered yet. I will pick a winner on Friday, so hurrry up and enter!

Share on Facebook