Another Workout Calendar Done!

Well, I finished another workout calendar!

I'm really loving these Hybrid calendars! It keeps things fresh and fun. This one incorporated 5 different programs:

1) MBF/A (Megan) - you did the recovery days and the Power Ignite workouts, working the whole body, one of my favorite types of working out!

2) T25 (Shaun T) - I love Shaun T, I love his personality and his hard core workouts. BUT my body does not like his style of workouts... my neck and bladder don't like all the jumping. lol. But I did them! I just modified some of the jumping parts so I wouldn't pee my pants. haha!

3) 80 Day Obsession (Autumn) - we did the booty days, the last one for each phase. SO GOOD. They were 2x15s with 3 moves in each set. Man, my butt got a good workout on those days.

4) Body Beast (Sagi - old school!) - I will say, Sagi is not my favorite trainer to listen to, he's kind of awkward, but I pass no judgement, being in front of a camera when English isn't your first language. I mean, I get it. But MAN, he sure does know his workouts!! We did shoulders and tris one day and legs another day from him. I'm REALLY tempted to do one of his calendars next, I love his style of working out so much.

5) The Work (Amoila) - and then.... The Crucible with Amoila. UGH. I really love Amoila. His passion just jumps off into the screen and he really motivates you. His laugh and smile, and his story telling. But this dang crucible?! Holy Crap. The last one was from the last workout in The Work and each set was 100 reps of each move!! I wanted to cry. In fact.. if you saw my reel on Instagram, I think I did cry. lol 

It was a HARD calendar - I really pushed myself for 3 weeks (add a few days for quick trips), but it was really FUN! If you want the calendar, you can download it HERE. 

Need to sign up for Beachbody on Demand? Click HERE to find out more about it!

AND I have a day pass link for BODi - click HERE

Then I went for a 2 mile run (well, walk/run...). My goal during the summer is to get in a run every day while I'm home. It's really just 4 cul-de-sacs...because my neighborhood is one big "circle" of cul-de-sacs. Running in FL summer, no matter what time of day, sweat will be dripping profusely... these spring bud lnts hide the sweat so well!! And the copper charge tanks, of course, are amazing

On, the look like nothing is there, off and inside out? Looks like I peed my pants

Those light n tights really are life! lol

Check them out HERE

4th of July Amazon Haul

The 4th of July is coming up! If you know me, you know I love a good theme - whether it's in my classroom or at home, or with clothes/accessories.

Here are a few things I've found on Amazon to help decorate our house or clothes/accessories for us to wear. 

1. Leather Earrings - I love big earrings, but I don't love the weight. These leather earrings are perfect, and they're not too bad, price-wise, so I don't feel bad only wearing them a few times a year. 

2. Pleated Fan Flag - I've been looking for these to hang on the "banister" on the front porch, but finally found some that weren't going to be too pricey

3. Pillow covers - I have found just buying the covers to pillows instead of the actual pillow is SO much easier to store. I change them out for each season! 

4. Muscle Tank - This fits TTS, but I am in between sizes and I actually went with my larger size so it was more loose than fitted. 

5. Dog Bandanas - yep, even the dog needs some fun!

6.  Patriotic Banner - perfect for back yards, or if you're camping in your RV to string outside of it! 

7. Kimono - I love a good kimono! For beaching or being at the pool, or just hanging out! 

8. Distressed Flag Tank - can one have too many tanks? I think not. lol

9. Kids Flippy shirt - are your kids still loving the flippy shirts? My girls do. 

10. Stud earrings - oh man, my girls love earrings, and they always fight who gets which ones. This pack is perfect because it comes with 12 pairs! 

11. American Girl shirt - this shirt is calling my name! 

12.  String Lights - Depending on the areas you'll be hanging them, you might need a few strands, but I love these lights!

There are TONS more out there! One needs a good hat too, and I really liked THIS ONE.  I love a good baseball ponytail hat! 

Happy shopping! 

Meal Planning Monday {6.20.22}

Good morning and happy Monday! 

Today I'm sharing my meal plan for this week. I actually plan for the whole month, but linking all the recipes for a whole month is tedious lol - so a week at a time is the plan.  Some of them I have links for, some of them I just make them. Either way, maybe you'll get some ideas for your meals for the week.

1. Meatloaf - this I don't have a recipe for. I just make it like my momma taught me... egg, breadcrumbs, ketchup, onions, etc... BUT... I do make them into logs instead of a loaf. They cook faster, AND they're already portioned. lol

2. One-Pot Chicken Fajita Pasta - confession. I haven't tried this recipe yet. So we'll see if it makes it into the binder. 

3.  Baked Parmesan Garlic Chicken - I'll probably make some egg noodles with butter for the kids and some zucchini for me and Ron. 

4.  Honey Glazed Salmon - definitely with some veggies, and maybe some orzo or rice.

5.  Garlic Beef and Broccoli Lo Mein This one is made with spaghetti noodles, so Autumn likes to say it's just beef and broccoli spaghetti lol

Hope that gives you some ideas!

Happy cooking!

Camping in the Panhandle

The girls and I just got back from a quick trip to the panhandle. 

We "crashed" my parents' camping trip in Eastpoint. This was the view from the site - right on a main road, but it was so pretty to look at! 

lol - the goofs.

 It's right near St. George Island and Apalachicola. The beaches there are like the white sand and SO pretty, and no one was really there.

Always shell hunting or crab finding.

Found a dead crab that was whole! It was pretty impressive! 

I love lighthouses - this one was on St. George island. 

We also went to the Nature center - it was actually really cool! And FREE! I like free lol

but they had TONS of animals to see (stuffed or preserved, and in aquariums)

My girls know how to make things fun where ever they go. lol

Oh, Autumn 😅

The, they took us to a place called "Hold in the Wall." It had FOUR tables, total lol - and it was run by people who would rather sit and have conversations with you than have a high turnover rate, which I love. AND they had the best prices for oysters. 

This is the place where Autumn had her first oysters! It was baked, not raw, but she enjoyed them!

My dad explaining to Caroline how to eat an oyster - she wasn't too sure about it.

Caroline and Brooklynn, analyzing their food, as always - ha! 

BUT...they ate it! And they said they'd even do it again! I call that a win, because Brooklynn us THE pickiest easter, textures and her do NOT get along. 

This was one of the "shrimping boats" that were docked. We got to talk with a few locals about how things are run, it's quite interesting!

but the highlight was all the "crabbing" they got to do during low tide!

You can't see it, but when it's low tide, you can walk out for like a mile and it's still at your ankles! We were finding all kinds of little animals  - conchs, hermit crabs, actual crabs, 

These are baby conchs, you can kind of see the animal sticking out a bit.

Little black crabs that were all over the beach 

And when it was "high tide" (again, still super shallow), they took the floats out and just played around in the water - where there's water, that's where you'll find the girls! 

Then, we spent a whole day shopping in downtown Apalachicola. You could really spend the whole day shopping there. Such a neat downtown area!  

Autumn was inspired by some of the art there and did some painting one night. 

The last night we were there, low tide was going happen around 1:00 a.m., so my mom and I decided it'd be a good idea to wake up around 12:30 and take Autumn out - lol. 

But man, that moon was beautiful on the water!!

One adventure down, so many more to go! 

 

May Book Review

It's May Book Review! 

You can down load a clickable pdf HERE

I was SUPER busy in May - because, you know... MAY. So I only have a few books to share with you this month.

You can also follow my #jenrossreads and #jenrossreads2022 hashtags on IG!

Here are some quick reviews of the books for the month. 

In Five Years

I really liked this book. I felt connect to Dannie, honestly. Trying to plan my life, but then quickly realized that THAT was not going to work. I loved seeing how this book got tot the end, and that it didn't end the way I thought it would.

Golden Girl

I love Elin Hilderbrand. She's one author I can count on for a good beach read.  This book was definitely a different style of her writing, but I really liked it! I can't write about it too much without giving away what happens in the story, though. Sorry! 

All the Ways we Said Goodbye

Goodness. Historical fiction - might be one of my top fave genres now... Beatriz Williams is so good at these books. This is another book taking place in different time frames, but this time it's THREE time frames; 1914, the 1940s during the war and the 1960s. Three different women whose are all connected by one hotel in Paris. 

Happy Reading! 

April Book Review

                                    

It's my April Book Review! 

You can down load a clickable pdf HERE

This month's books were okay - I had a few I really liked, one I LOVED, and a few I was "meh" over.

You can also follow my #jenrossreads and #jenrossreads2022 hashtags on IG!

Here are some quick reviews of the books for the month. 

Pieces of Her

So, I started watching this show and thought, huh. This seems like it would be a book. So I looked it up and she enough
Lol
I'm glad I watched the show first, it's pretty different than the book. One of the big (secondary) characters want even in the book and the events were pretty different once you got 1/3 through the book.

I liked both of them though!

The Glass Ocean

This book takes place in two different times - present day and 1915 when the Lusitania was sunk by a German U-Boat. What's interesting is that each of the characters was written by the different authors, and it's fun trying to figure out who wrote which character. ha! I have come to really love the historical fiction genre! 

The Paper Palace

This book came recommended by a few flowers, actually.
Honestly, I wasn't really into it in the beginning. I found it hard to follow, It goes backwards in time, then forwards in time, connecting the events ... but I'm glad I stuck with it! It's ended up being a really good book!!

The Maid

Hmmm... I'm conflicted on this book. And a lot of other reviewers say that it is NOTHING like Evicted, which I've never read, and they were disappointed in the book. I grew up with a mom who left an abusive husband when I was a baby, and had no job experience and we weren't well off at all, so I should have felt connected to this book, but I just didn't.

Ending with my favorite of the month!

The Perfect Marriage

Guys, I couldn't put this one down! Normally I do audiobooks - since I'm always on the go, but this one kept me wanting to read. It was a but far fetched at times, but really good - and the ending, totally didn't see that coming. AND if you have KindleUnlimited, it's free!

Happy Reading! 

March Adult Book Review

You can down load a clickable pdf HERE

This month's books were AMAZING. Pretty much all of them, I LOVED. You can NOT go wrong with Kristin Hannah, obviously, I read 3 of her books this month! 

You can also follow my #jenrossreads and #jenrossreads2022 hashtags on IG!

Here are some quick reviews of the books for the month. 

Daisy Jones & the Six

I'm a little behind on this one, but it was such a good Audiobook!

Took me a while to get into it because the whole thing is in an interview style, but i really started to get into the characters and the narrators did such a good job!

I highly recommend the audiobook version!

The Four Winds

Oh, Kristin Hannah
How would you know you would have been writing such an amazing historical fiction book.... but it would be so similar to what was going on right now? We're not yet to that point of the great depression, but gosh, so much of your book resonated so much with what has been going lately.

Once again, she captivates me and I was sucked in to the narrative and I cried and I got angry and I sympathized.

I have yet to meet a Kristin Hannah book, I wouldn't recommend.

The Unhoneymooners

Such a fun and light book.
I knew the ending, but it was a such a cute book getting there. I found myself giggling at her thoughts. I wanted to keep reading. If you're looking for a light book to get lost in, here you go!

The Great Alone

Oh.my.goodness
I am so thankful for such talented people in the world to share their beautiful gift of writing. I love getting lost in books.

@kristinhannahauthor you NEVER disappoint. I couldnt stop reading, but I'm so sad the book is over. I think I cried nonstop the last 30% of the book.

It'll easily stay at top of my list for one of my favorite books of the year.

Home Front

This book?! It had me in tears 80-90% of the time. It's about a mom/wife who gets deployed, and that all by herself is enough to bring you to tears, but the story then goes into what it's like when she comes home from Iraq (her helicopter was shot down). Kristin Hannah ALWAYS gets me, but then one?? I was ugly crying! 

The Perfect Girl

This one was different than I expected. The Perfect Girl is about a gifted 17 year old piano player and her mom as they start their lives over after the 17 year old is involved in a car accident that claimed the lives of 3 of her classmates. (not a spoiler...it says it on the back of the book!) On the night of the a big piano concert, someone murders Zoe’s (the 17 year old) mother and the book follows the mystery of what happened and who did it.  The book is told from multiple points of view. We get the lawyer’s POV, the aunt’s POV, the 17 year old’s POV, and eventually we read from the stepbrother’s and the uncle’s POV.

Happy Reading!