Happy Fitness Tuesday! Today I want to talk about fitness with your furry friends. If you follow me on social media you know that I am a SoulCycle junkie or if not by my matching shirt with my sweet puppy Stella. I try and go at least 4 times a week if not more, but I am not like Venessa Hudgens who says if she can goes twice a day. That is a little crazy to me! When I got Stella she was only 3.5 lbs of pure fluff and now she is 22 lbs. Some people think she is bigger than that because of all of her fur. All of my old dogs were large golden retrievers so once they were about 6 months they were too big to pick up on my own, but this isn’t the case with Stella. Since starting my workout journey I have tried every type of exercise in the book…except hot yoga out of fear I will pass out in the room. I never realized that by picking Stella up all the time and carrying her I was really building up my muscle strength. So I decided to do something that involved me working out and Stella. I now try and do lunges while I am holding her across my living room floor. She sometimes gets a little squirmy, but eventually she lets me hold her. The other exercise that I love to do with Stella is running. I love running outside with her for many reasons. First because of her size she runs really really fast! You can ask my family in Miami whenever she is there she runs around my house in circles and is so fast. She is so fast that my brother Ira who to this day says he is the fastest in our family can barely keep up with her. Sorry to break it to you Ira, but Stella is the fastest Marcus now. If you are going to take your dog out for a jog please take a collapsable bowl that can be attached to your leash for water. I know too many people that didn’t do that and thankfully none of their dogs got hurt, but they were severely dehydrated. If you have a furry friend like my sweet Stella do these two exercises with them and see what I am talking about. Sadly my SoulCycle t-shirt is no longer available, but a similar shirt to the one Stella is wearing is up on their website. Click here to purchase it for your sweet furry friend. <3
Throwback Thursday – Overalls
Today I thought I would bring back an outfit that I probably wore on repeat in 4th grade any chance I could. What outfit am I talking about? Overalls! I had my favorite pair of denim overalls that I wore at least once a week to school maybe even more my entire 4th grade year. I still remember my Dad trying to get me to buy a different pair of overalls so I could switch it up and I wouldn’t budge. Finally once they got a hole in them it was time to say goodbye. Recently I have been spotting the trend everywhere from H&M all the way to Bloomingdales. One of my favorite bloggers is WeWoreWhat and when I heard she had created a line of overalls I was desperate to get my hands on a pair of them. I luckily was able to snag two pairs of her coveted Second Skin Overalls including this pair that I am wearing. These are her high waisted black skinny overalls and I am OBSESSED!!! They are so comfortable and fit so well that I don’t want to take them off. Being that I am only 5’2 1/2 (yes that 1/2 of an inch is very important) I always struggle to find things that fit me properly. I always seem to have to take any pair of jeans or jumpsuits to the tailor, but for the first time in a long time I didn’t have to. These overalls fit me perfectly without any need to take them in to a professional. I personally never realized how versatile overalls truly were until now. You can wear these overalls with sneakers, slides, flats, booties, heels or even sandals. The tricky part is finding the proper top to go underneath. For me I have worn body suits under it, off the shoulder tops, crop tops and also tight tanks that tuck in on the sides. The tank that I am wearing is a looser fitting tank from GAP and it is tight on top, but not as tight as a form fitting tank. If you are purchasing from Second Skin Overalls I suggest ordering two sizes. In one of the overalls from a previous collection I was a size XS, but for these I wore a size small. If you are concerned with the $ of these overalls I am here to tell you that it is worth every penny, but if you aren’t sure if you will wear them often check out stores like Forever 21 and H&M for less expensive options. Hope everyone has a great Thursday and is ready for the weekend! <3
Fitness Tuesday – Summer Body Ready
It’s Fitness Tuesday here on Just Jodi Style and I want to discuss something that everyone knows is coming…SUMMER! With Memorial Day coming up soon everyone is a panic to get their beach bodies ready. I have noticed this personally in all of my work out classes these past two weeks. Normally the 7 am spin class I attend is 75% full, but now there is always a waitlist to get into the class. I want to stress to everyone to not overdue it just to get beach body ready. In reality that body won’t stay long if you are just trying to get an easy fix. For example I have seen a ton of people doing juice cleanses to drop a few lbs fast, but the moment you start back on solid food the weight just comes right back on. Trust me I have done 2 juice cleanses in my lifetime. Yes, I lost a great deal of weight while doing them, but the moment I started back eating normally food all the weight just came right back on. The best way to keep your body great all summer long is to be consistent. Yes this will requiring working out, but you will also need to watch what you are eating and drinking. Something that I learned helps with your metabolism is to start your mourning off with a hot cup of water with a little bit of lemon. This will help jump start your metabolism and also I have noticed that it has helped me when I feel like I may be getting sick. Another thing that helps is portion control. I know that everyone posts about their meal prep for the week, but that gets boring after a while. You want variety and there is no shame in admitting that. I personally look at my schedule for the week every Sunday night to determine my meals for the week before hitting the grocery store Monday morning. I do this because Monday SoulCycle classes open up for the next week and that way I can also plan my meals around my workouts as well. It’s a win win situation you plan your week of fitness ahead of time and what you will eat. Now I don’t plan specifically what day I will be eating certain meals, but I plan out how many meals I will eat at home and enough options for all of those days. I hope this helps all of you with planning your summer bodies. Have a great day <3
Comfy Casual Night In
In college Thursday nights were always a big going out night, but since I have gotten older I enjoy at least one night in on the weekends. Especially nights in cuddling with my sweet puppy Stella. However, just because you are staying in doesn’t mean you don’t have to be wearing sweats around the house. There is always a way to look cute even when you are just staying home. There are so many different ways you can take comfy casual and there is no right or wrong way. Most people would say if you are just spending the night in on your couch watching movies that jeans are not ideal for this, but I disagree. There are so many different pairs of jeans that almost feel like leggings and aren’t rigid like most jeans. These type of jeans are perfect for a night in because they aren’t as constricting as a normal pair of jeans. On top of a pair of jeans pair it with a comfy shirt not super tight, but not too loose that you look like you are just wearing an oversized sleep t-shirt. I know you all know what I am talking about those t-shirts from college that were great to wear to sporting games, but now are faded and way too big. If you have one of those that isn’t too big you can cut it up like the shirt I am wearing above. It will spice up your t-shirt and if you cut it wrong you can just continue to wear it as a sleep shirt. Pair your comfy look with a great pair of slides if you are going over to a friends house or just want to break in a new pair of shoes and you are good to go! Stella seems to be very comfy for our night in with her custom Donni Charm plaid bandana. Maybe if I am lucky she will let me take it off before she goes to bed. 🙂 <3
Fitness Tuesday – To Stretch Or Not To Stretch?
Happy New Year everyone and happy first fitness Tuesday of 2017!! I am finally recovering from this weekend and getting back into the swing of things. I started January 1st with a 90 minute SoulCycle class and when you hear people say it is hard that is an understatement even for me who does spinning at least 4 times a week. When I used to do spinning I would always leave before the stretch part because I would just want to get out of the class and shower. Even when I was younger I would always just do the bare minimum of stretching not until I played JV basketball in High School did I start to take it more seriously. I didn’t want to injure myself because I wasn’t stretching properly, but with spinning didn’t think that I needed to stretch more than I normally did. One thing that I have learned since starting to work out more is that stretching is more important than you think. Even if you don’t really stretch fully before any type of workout after you should always stretch every muscle you have. There are times I would think oh I don’t need to stretch out my arms because I barely did any arm work, but that doesn’t mean you didn’t use your arms in a way you didn’t realize. As I have previously stated a foam roller is great for stretching, but you can use anything in your house. I personally use a towel to stretch out my legs by using wrapping it around my feet and holding either end of the towel and then pointing and flexing my toes in the process. It may sound silly, but think about all the stretches you did in your middle school PE classes and do those today. They are more helpful than you think and they will prevent you from getting stiff muscles and possibly hurting yourself in the long run. Hope everyone had a great weekend and for those of you in New York City are staying dry on the cold rainy day. <3
Hump Day Treat – The French Apple Tart
Happy Wednesday! Today is my Mom’s birthday and in honor of that I wanted to share with you one of her recipes that she recently made this past Thanksgiving. Now my Mom and I both love sweets, but when it comes to the holidays my Mom is the master at dessert. I have always loved apple pie, but no one other myself would eat it. So this past Thanksgiving my Mom made a thin french apple tart and when I tell you that it looked like a work of art I am not joking. It was so thin and delicious that it didn’t even feel like you were eating anything. I honestly now prefer this than an apple pie. It was that good! Here is the recipe for this amazing dish.
Ingredients:
½ (15 ounce ) package refrigerated pie dough ( pillsbury has these)
¼ cup sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 pounds Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced (Try to make them as thin as possible)
2 ½ tablespoons honey
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
1.Preheat oven to 425 degrees fahrenheit
2.Place dough on a lightly floured surface
3.Roll into a 12 inch circle and place on a 12 – inch pizza pan
4.Combine sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the sugar mixture over the dough
5.Arrange apple slices spokelike on top of the dough. Do this by working from outside edge of the dough to the center
6.Sprinkle app over the remaining apple slices that are now on the dough the remaining sugar mixture
7.Place in the oven for 30 minutes
8.Right before you are about to take the apple tart out of the oven combine the honey and vanilla in a microwave safe bowl
9.Microwave on high for 40 seconds
10.Take the tart out of the oven. While the tart is still warm brush honey mixture over it.
11.Serve this dessert warm and if you like with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. ENJOY!
Hope you all enjoy my mom’s recipe on her birthday <3 Love you mom!
L’Shanah Tova! Happy Jewish New Year!
Every year the Jewish holidays land on different days because they go by the lunar calendar which always screws me up. In honor of Rosh Hashanah, which is the Jewish New Year, I am posting an extra special recipe this week for the holiday. In order to insure we have a sweet new year, we eat apples dipped in honey along with other sweet foods. Thanks to Martha Stewart, I am addicted to the apple and honey challah bread and I know you all will be to.
Ingredients:
4 ounces (1 stick) of unsalted butter; also have some extra for the bowl, pan and plastic
3 1/2 cups unbleached flour; you will need extra for your countertop
3/4 cup warm water (100 degrees)
2/3 cup honey
2 large eggs plus 3 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons active dry yeast (from one 1/4-ounce envelope)
2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 1/2 tart green apples, preferably Granny Smith, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices (about 1 3/4 cups)
DIRECTIONS
- Butter a large bowl, and melt 4 tablespoons butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat; let cool. Combine 2 tablespoons melted butter, the flour, water, 1/3 cup honey, the eggs and yolks, yeast, and salt in a large bowl. Mix until dough forms. Turn dough out onto a floured surface, and knead until smooth, about 10 minutes.
- Transfer dough to buttered bowl, and brush with 1 tablespoon melted butter. Cover with plastic. Let rise in a warm place until dough almost doubles in volume, about 1 1/2 hours.
- Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Pat into an 8 1/2-by-14-inch rectangle. Top with apples; knead to incorporate. Return to bowl. Brush with remaining tablespoon melted butter; cover. Let rise again in a warm place until dough almost doubles in volume, about 1 hour more.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees, with rack in lowest position. Butter a 9-inch round cake pan. Roll dough into a rope (about 24 inches) on a floured surface. Coil into a circle, and transfer to pan. Butter plastic wrap, and cover dough. Let rise again until dough almost doubles in volume, about 45 minutes more.
- Heat remaining 4 tablespoons butter and 1/3 cup honey in a saucepan over medium-low heat until butter melts. Brush dough with half the honey-butter. Bake until golden brown and firm, about 35 minutes.
- Brush challah with the remaining honey-butter. Let cool in pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Turn out loaf from pan, and let cool.
If you aren’t interested in cooking for the holiday and want a sweet treat you should head over to treat house and get some of these adorable rice crispy treats. Treat House
Images taken from marthastewart.com and treathouse.com
SoulCycle x Apple Watch
Today is Sunday so it should be a day of rest right? For me, I enjoy working out especially on Sunday’s because it makes me feel that my week ended on a high note. I have always loved working out and taking classes, but while I was home in Miami there wasn’t as many options as I would like. In New York, there are work out classes almost on every block, but I wanted to find something that was close to my home in Miami and also in NYC. I had tried SoulCycle in the past, but never got into it that much. I always thought it was just a fad and it would pass. Boy, was I wrong. I started to go when I was home since they opened a SoulCycle studio 10 minutes from my house. I figured why not get back into the gym slowly… Now I am addicted. I go a minimum of 4 days of week. It is addicting, but something that people may not realize is when you look at a SoulCycle schedule when it says SoulSurvivor that means the class is not the general 45-minute class it is an HOUR LONG, but for the same price! So why not go for an hour vs 45 minutes if you can? I try to go every Sunday for a SoulSurvivor class to just prepare myself for the week ahead. One of the things that I can’t go to class without is my apple watch. I have the first generation of the watch that my brother Ira gave to me as my graduation gift from Graduate School. I use this to track my workouts and even though sometimes it isn’t 100% accurate it has been really helpful through my workout journey. I have done the recent software update that came out this week for the watch and it has fixed a lot of the issues with my watch that I was having before. Another thing is if you have an apple watch just remember if your phone is nearby make sure to put your watch on sleep mode. It will still track everything to your phone, but from experience the last thing you want is your watch to start ringing on your wrist in the middle of class because someone is calling your cell phone. Happy Sunday Everyone!!