Apple Cinnamon Breakfast Smoothie

Smoothies can be a great way to have a quick on the go and nutrient packed breakfast! I've been having smoothies every morning and it's honestly my favorite breakfast before work. Here is my most recent smoothie recipe that I've discovered and absolutely LOVE! It's got the delicious taste of apples and cinnamon, but with a secret ingredient that will keep you full till lunchtime! 

Apple Cinnamon Breakfast Smoothie

Ingredients:

- 1 cup Milk (Your choice of milk, I use Vanilla Almond Milk, unsweetened)

- 1 Medium Apple, cored and cut up

- 1 Tsp Cinnamon (More or less to taste)

- 3/4 cup quick oats OR 1 Packet of oatmeal - I used what was available to me, which was a packet of maple and brown sugar oatmeal and it was DELICIOUS

- 1 scoop of your choice of protein powder (Optional)

- A handfull of ice cubes (I used about 4)

Directions:

-Put all of the ingredients into your blender and blend well. Add more milk/ice for a thinner/thicker smoothie as desired. ENJOY

Countdown Workout

This is a very simple but very effective workout that counts down from 10 to 1 of each exercise. No equipment is required except for a bench to complete your tricep dips.

Complete each round with as little rest as possible in between each exercise, and only 30 seconds rest in between each round. 

Body Weight Track Workout

Since starting my fitness journey I have been obsessively searching Pinterest for workouts to do that I will stick with. So after looking at tons of different workouts, and I mean tons of them, I decided to create my own! 

This is a body weight workout that can be done anywhere that requires no equipment, except a bench to do the dips and to modify your push ups if needed. It incorporates some cardio as well as lots of body weight exercises to build up those muscles and blast that fat away! 

41 Romantic Gestures for Your Girlfriend

It's no surprise that many men have difficulties with ways to be romantic towards their girlfriends or significant other without burning a hole in their pocket.

So here is 41 ways to be romantic without breaking the bank:

1. Write "I Love You" on the steamed up mirror while she's in the shower. 

2. Give her a back massage with her favorite smelling lotion. 

3. Make a CD or playlist with your favorite mushy love songs and put her name on it. 

4. Always text her goodnight and good morning without fail! Or if you live together, make sure you tell her every day and night with a kiss. 

5. Write a simple note and hide it somewhere she won't be expecting it. 

6. Dedicate a song to her on a local radio station, and then text/email her with the time to listen in. 

7. Give her a pedicure/foot rub.

8. Give her a picture of you, or the both of you, to put I her wallet and write "I Love You" on the back of it. 

9. Leave a note for her in her car telling her to have a great day and that you'll miss her so she finds it before heading to work. 

10. Go to a movie together, sit in the back row and hold hands and cuddle the whole time. 

11. Wake up early one morning to make her a delicious breakfast in bed with her favorite breakfast food. She'll appreciate the effort AND the sacrifice! 

12. Cook her a candlelit dinner and turn the lights down low while you eat! Make it an intimate meal!

13. Make two ingredient ice cream together on a hot summer day.

14. Write her an old fashioned love letter and put it in with the rest of her mail. 

15. Make code words for the two of you before you go to a party together that you can say in front of other people - that code word could mean something like "I can't wait to get you home."

16. Place an ad in the classifieds section of the newspaper with a short love note or quote. Give her a copy of the paper with a bow and a note telling her what page to look on. 

17. Help her out with something that she hates doing, especially when she seems overwhelmed. 

18. Invent your own meal, something you guys don't normally eat, and name it after her. 

19. Write a bunch of "I Love You" notes and hide them all over the house for her to find in random places (I.e. In her shoe, coat pocket, the fridge, makeup bag, etc). 

20. Surprise her with flowers for no reason. 

21. Hide a chocolate bar or her favorite candy under her pillow. 

22. Create a hand signal that represents "I Love You." Something casual like a fist bump or a thumbs up. You can do this in public and it will be your little secret! 

23. Play with her hair! Doing this while sitting on the couch will make her melt right into you. 

24. Touch her frequently. Just a casual touch like your hand on her thigh or on the small of her back will let her know you're physically there and connected with her. 

25. While out to dinner at a restaurant, get a dessert to go. Take it home and share it while cuddling on the couch together. 

26. Set up a date for her, and plan out everything. Men like women to choose what they want, but your girl with definitely appreciate you taking the time to plan every detail out. Bonus points if you get her a new dress or piece of jewelry to wear on the date! 

27. Cup her face when you kiss her. Even if it's just a mid day "love ya" kiss, really be in that moment with her. 

28. Cuddle her in public. Nothing to over powering, but just a simple hug or put your arm around her will let her know you're not afraid to show her off as yours. 

29. For no reason at all, call in sick and have her do the same. Spend the day watching movies or being lazy in bed, or whatever it is you both want to do. 

30. Help her with her every day beauty routine - even if you're terrible at it. No, especially if you're terrible at it. 

31. Start watching a tv series together, and be religious about only watching it together. 

32. Tell her frequently "I Love You" and more importantly, "I Need You."

33. Pull up some couples YouTube dance lessons and try them out in the living room! 

34. Commit to one day of kissing her every hour, on the top of the hour. 

35. Send her a simple "I'm thinking of you" email, especially if you don't normally email one another. The different form of communication will be a nice surprise. 

36. Create a rule such as never getting out of the car without giving each other a kiss. 

37. Celebrate her half birthday with a simple card or small gift! 

38. Give her unexpected compliments.

39. Have a simple picnic together. It could be in the park, your back yard, or even in your living room with candles! 

40. Buy a bundle of bananas and write on the skins "I go bananas over you!" 

41. Never let her go to bed angry. If she's angry, even if you're tired, at least give her some comfort in knowing that you're still there and that you love her. 

Day Hoops VS LED Hoops

If you are a hooper yourself, or if you know someone who is a hooper, then I’m sure that at some point you have oogled over the beauty of LED hoops. In the world of hooping we have definitely evolved from the cheap plastic hoops mass produced by Wham-O Toy Company in the 1950’s. Our technology has evolved, and so have our hoops. We made classic LED hoops, and then we had the first Smart hoops with captivating designs. Then we added remotes and shuffling features and different types of preset designs. And then we go the ability to customize our own designs!

                                                    (Photo & LED from Ruby Hooping)

With all of the beauty of these amazing captivating LED’s and Smart hoops, I still choose my day hoop every single time. I repeat – I choose my day hoop over my LED hoop every single time. Don’t get me wrong, I will always pull out my Future hoop while were having a bon fire and have a blast! But overall, I still prefer my good old classic hoops and here’s why:

1.       I’m used to them.

Now when I say that I’m used to them, I don’t mean in a sense that I’m not willing to go out of my comfort zone, because I definitely am. I mean that my day hoops are the ones that I use and practice with every day, and when I go to a hoop jam in the middle of the day, they’re the ones I grab. I know how these hoops move on my body, I have the timing down with their weight and size, and I just know what they feel like. Sure, I could practice with my Future hoop every day and get that expertise down with it as well, but I’m still going to use my day hoops more often, so I simply don’t

2.       I like quality videos.

Since being a contestant on www.Hooping.org‘s Hooping Idol, I have come to appreciate the value of a good quality hooping video. That means that the hoop AND the hooper are clearly visible, the quality of the video itself is good, you can see the entire hooper and all of their movements, and there is good lighting.  For me, I just can’t seem to find that balance in lighting so that you can still see me but my LED hoop looks awesome too. In my opinion, and this is generally speaking, I think day hoops make better videos as far as quality goes.

3.       They’re expensive.

I’m just going to be honest with this one – I’m down right broke! As much as I DO like LED hoops and I understand the cost with the materials and the time and effort put into building those beautiful masterpieces, I just can’t afford to be buying multiply LED’s. Especially smart hoops which can be anywhere up to $500!  All of the LED’s that I have been gifts. In fact, I recently was given $89 in store credit by www.moodhoops.com and rather than getting an LED for free (which I could have) I chose to get 3 different colored polypro hoops instead! I mean how can you beat 3 for the price of 1? 

4.       They are too much maintenance.

If it’s raining outside, I can go hoop. If it’s cold outside, I can go hoop. If I’ve already been hooping for hours and hours and I’m not ready to quit, I can still hoop! I don’t have to worry about if my battery is charged, I don’t have to worry about if it starts raining or if I drop it in water, and I don’t have to worry about it being stolen because guess what – if it does, it wasn’t nearly as expensive of an investment (see #3!) With my day hoops I can just grab them and go, no worries and no maintenance.

5.       They distract ME.

Even though I do still get my future hoop out at bon fires, while I’m hooping with it I tend to get very distracted. Especially when it is dark out, the lights will make me dizzy and its hard for me to keep grips with my surroundings. Plus, sometimes I get so excited by the amazing patterns that I just want to do things that show them off and limit my hooping!

6.       They distract the audience.

Even if I didn’t limit my hooping to “look at this awesome pattern” type moves, I’m pretty sure that everyone I hoop in front of with my future hoop is pretty much looking at just the patterns and lights, and not at what I’m actually doing. Although there are some performance type cases where this may be ideal (i.e. performing on stage at a club or festival where the pretty lights is the main focus), I really enjoy people watching what I’m doing with the hoop rather than the hoop itself. I mean, I put tons of hours and sweat into perfecting the skills that I have, I don’t want those skills to be underappreciated because of some pretty lights.

7.       I just love them!

And finally, I just really, really love day hoops. I love the look of isolations with a colored hoop. I love the feel of a completely sanded polypro that’s naked with no tape on it. And mostly, I love hoop DANCING. I love taking my day hoops to a bar or club and just dancing with them, which I feel I am limited from that with my LED hoops! For me, my day hoops are just completely natural to me and I can connect with them like nothing else. 

Nothing can ever replace my day hoops, and they will always be my number one choice!


And of course, my favorite place to get my day hoops is Ruby Hooping! They make beautiful hand crafted hoops and specialize in HDPE, my favorite! 

                                                (Photo and all hoops from Ruby Hooping)

If you haven't checked out their website yet, you need to do that ASAP! You can also check out their Facebook page here! And don't forget you can always use my coupon code rachaelriot for 10% off your purchase! 

My Fitness Journey Begins

Since I have been in high school I have always had issues with gaining weight easily, effectively losing weight, and finding healthy ways in which to do that so I don't damage my body. I went through phases of starving myself, binge eating, purging, and short phases of trying to be health conscious and fit. But no matter what, I could never stick to any healthy diet and fitness regimen, and would always ultimately gain weight again. Alas, I am finally at a point in my life where I'm ready to be committed to a healthy lifestyle and make a permanent change for the better!

No more going back on my promises to myself about what I intend to do! I am going to do this, for real, and for good. 

So without further adieu, I would like to formally map out my plan here as a way to hold myself accountable! During this journey I would like to keep a conscious effort to improve my health in the areas of mind, body, and fitness. I not only want to lose weight and body fat, but I want to be stronger, healthier, be more conscious of what I'm putting into my body, and also be more positive with the image I have of myself. I no longer want to feel anxiety over my body orient clothes fit, and I understand that that will take much more than changing how my body looks. I want to change the way I see things in life! 

Fitness:

The first thing I'm going to work on improving is my overal fitness. Currently, I can barely do 5 real push-ups, I can't do a single pull up, and I don't think I could run an entire mile without taking any breaks to walk. I want to change that. 

Currently I have started working out with a friend, but I can't count on her to always be there, so I'm trying to make a comittment to myself that I will continue working out and push myself just as hard even when she's not there. I started with committing myself to three days a week to start, and this week I move on to doing four days a week. I'm planning on doing two days of more cardio type exercises and two days of muscle building. When I move on to five, I will add another day of muscle building as building uncle will give me better results in the long run. 

Body:

Its also about time I begin tinge more conscious of the foods I'm putting into my body. Not saying I won't ever go to Olive Garden and scruff down some Asiago Garlic Alfredo (YUM) but on an every day to day basis I would like to eat more natural non-processed foods. No more lunch meat, less frozen, more fresh.  More vegetables, more baked chicken, and lately I have found a love for fruit smoothies as a breakfast meal. Better choices in snacks since I feel this is a major thing I have a hard time with. Better food = a better running body. 

Mind:

I need to take a serious step back and start changing the way I think of myself. Every time I have a negative thought about myself, I need to immediately halt and force myself to replace that thought with two positive things. This is I thinknine of the things that I'm going to have the hardest time with as I regularly suffer from depression and anxiety, but I owe it to myself to make an honest effort. You can't have a healthy body without a healthy mind. 

I'm hoping that by regularly writing posts in things hat help me, my progress, and my struggles I will remain motivated to keep going. And who knows.. Maybe I can motivate a person or two along the way! Either way, I think everybody is worth the effort to treat their body well to the best of their ability. After all, it's the only one we get right? 

Xoxo

How to Choreograph a Hooping Routine

Recently there was a post in the Ruby Hooping group on Facebook of doing a little project where everyone choreographs a hooping routine and we share our videos afterwards! A lot of hoopers in the group and other groups have said that they have never choreographed a routine before, so I figured I would give some tips from my experiences of creating routines! 

Generally speaking, I think that most HOOPERS like to freestyle and just flow with whatever music their listening to or whatever mood they’re in. And flow is wonderful! It’s a really great skill to have to be able to freestyle and just go with it! But I also think it’s really important from a dance perspective to to be able to add that structure to your hooping and memorize the steps! 

Creating a choreographed routine will also help with nervousness or anxiety when it comes to performing! Whether it’s in front of a camera or in front of a crowd, most hoopers can identify with the fact that you never do your best when you’re being watched! If you create a set routine that you can practice, even if you drop your hoop you will be able to jump back into that routine. And of course, you won’t have to be afraid of “spacing out” and forgetting all your awesome moves that you’ve worked so hard to accomplish! 

So without further adieu, here are my 6 tips for choreographing a routine! 

1. Pick your song first. Don’t try to create a routine off of nothing. Figure out what kind of feeling/mood you want your routine to have, and a general idea of how long you want it to be. Then go find a song that best fits those ideas! Once you start creating your actual routine if you find that you don’t like the song or its to short/long or it just doesn’t fit for whatever reason, you can always change it. But it’s good to have a general idea of what you want to accomplish with your routine and have the song for before you really get to work! 

2. Listen to your song. And I mean repeatedly. Listen to it over and over again. If you’re going to choreograph a routine to this song, you need to be familiar with the tempo, the verse and chorus lengths, how long the intro and outro are, and everything about the song. As you’re listening to it over and over, start to visualize yourself hooping to the song. Picture the moves you think will go well together and where, and how you might want to start and finish your routine. Visualizing yourself doing something before you actually do it is a great exercise that sets you up for success! (This is a tip that I follow with everything, not just hooping!)

3. Freestyle to your song. Now that you’ve picked your song and you’ve visualized yourself hooping to it, let’s get hooping! It’s good to freestyle to it a few times, that way you can get a good feel for what goes well together, and where. By free-styling, you naturally will do what feels right. If you need to, take a video of your free-styles so you don’t forget what you did! See what looks and feels good and goes with the flow of the song. Also visualize the way that you would like to start, and finish, your routine. 

4. Write your ideas down. As you freestyle to your song and you start to practice the ideas that you have, write them down. Make an outline for the song and write down where you want to do what. I usually break down my outline into parts of the song – Intro, Verses, Bridges and Outro/ending. In each section I briefly write my ideas down. Of course, this is all subject to change! This is just a basic rough draft so don’t worry if it’s not perfect yet! 

5. Start your structure! Now it’s time to actually set this routine to a structure. I fully suggest sticking to an 8-count, but this is totally optional, although in my experience, having the moves go along with specific counts can really help with your memory of the routine! Figure out how many 8-counts are in each verse, chorus, bridge etc., and then take it one 8-count at a time. It’s going to take a little time, but eventually you will start to see it come together. You don’t have to choreograph the whole routine from start to finish – it’s okay to have an idea for what you want to do during the chorus or at a certain point in the song. It’s also okay to leave a couple 8-counts open to freestyle as well! This will give you a chance to dance more and show the audience your own style a little better! The best recommendation I can give you is to either write everything down or to take a video. You don’t want to forget what you just worked so hard for an hour to put together!

6. PRACTICE! As with anything else, practice is key! Once you’ve come up with the structure and basic choreography of your routine, then it’s time to do some tweaking and fine tuning! Change things that you don’t like, and add in those little dance moves to add some personality and style! Practice your routine so much that it becomes second nature so if you do slip up, you are able to easily and quickly get right back into it! 

Now that you’ve successfully choreographed your own unique hoop routine, show it off! Take a video and share it wit your friends because you’ve just accomplished an amazing feat that you should be proud of! All that hard work has paid off, so get hooping!! Don’t forget to point those toes, strike that pose, and SMILE!! 

DONT LEAVE YET!
If you’re planning on choreographing a routine for a special performance or just for fun, you may want a new pretty hoop to show off to go with your hard work! Or maybe you just have a hoop hoarding obsession and want a new hoop like me ;)Either way, Ruby Hooping is the place to go! Top quality hoops and excellent customer service, I promise you won’t be happier with any other company! 

Ruby Hooping Website
Ruby Hooping Facebook

Go check them out! just read their reviews and you’ll see they’re the best