Hello and happy Wednesday! First things first – if you’re reading this via my email subscription or an e-reader, click through to my homepage because fANNEtastic food got a little mini-makeover today! I was feeling creative yesterday and in the mood for a new header with some updated photos and a simpler, cleaner look, so I spent some time in PicMonkey (best website ever) playing around and voila! I made myself a new banner. I hope you guys like it. :) (My purple fANNEtastic food logo was designed for me a couple years ago by Bailey at Think Pretty Ink, if you’re interested in having design work done! And of course I always recommend WP Site Care for any back end help you need – they helped me widen my website this morning so the new banner would fit nicely!)
Anyway! Matt and I had a fun workout at CrossFit Arlington earlier this week. We hadn’t been in a little while since we’ve been out of town a lot, so it was great to get back. After doing our warmup (3 rounds of: 1 building lap, 12 toe touch burpees, 12 kettlebell swings), we got into our strength practice of the day: back squats!
Remember when I first started doing CrossFit last summer and I couldn’t do a back squat because of shoulder mobility problems? Well, I’m really excited to share that I have worked my way up to doing them now! I’m still not doing a ton of weight so I can focus on form and my shoulders still feel really tight just holding the bar, but I’m proud of myself for making it this far. Yoga, stretching, and just getting better at CrossFit in general all helped. On Monday night, our strength WOD was to do 4 rounds of back squats, 4 reps at a time. I made it up to 65 pounds. Yay!
Meanwhile, Matt was lifting all sorts of weight. :)
For our WOD (workout of the day) following the strength session, we did the following for time:
- 50 wallballs
- 800m run
- 50 wallballs
WHEW! 50 wallballs in a row is HARD, and I was only using a 10 pound ball (the recommended weight for women was 14 pounds, but there’s no shame in not hurting yourself/overdoing it!). If you don’t know what a wallball is, to do one you stand facing a wall holding a weighted squishy ball. You do a deep squat, then throw the ball as far up the wall as you can, then catch it again and go immediately back into a squat. Each squat + throw = 1 rep.
During the workout, I was lucky enough to be testing out a new pair of shoes that Reebok sent me this month: the brand new CrossFit Nano 3.0! I loved them. They are really lightweight, low to the ground, and have great grip/traction due to a carbon rubber outsole, which is great for CrossFit. I actually felt great in them during the running part of the WOD, too! They were nice and flexible, which is key. They even have added durability on the inner arch in case you are climbing a rope in them!
And they’re cute, too, which is obviously just as important. ;)
I’d definitely recommend them if you’re in the market for some new CrossFit shoes!
Speaking of CrossFit, I’m REALLY excited and honored to announce that I’ll be attending the CrossFit Games this coming weekend as media/press on behalf of Reebok! I’m so grateful to them for this cool opportunity and I can’t wait to share the excitement with you guys! I’ll be flying off to Los Angeles on Friday morning and will be back in DC on Monday. I’m especially excited to cheer on Austin Malleolo, who I met up at Reebok CrossFit ONE in MA last year, and Christy Phillips, a northern Virginia woman competing in the games this year who I also met at Reebok headquarters last year!
Aaaanyway! When Matt and I finished up with CrossFit, we came home and threw together a simple dinner. It was already almost 9 p.m. and we were HUNGRY – perfect night for one of our “throw everything in a pot” type meals. This was essentially my Saucy Tomato & Artichoke Chicken (click for recipe), plus some random stuff that was hanging out in the fridge – mushrooms, carrots, and fingerling potatoes.
We just threw it all in a pan, popped the lid on, and let it simmer for about 15 minutes until the chicken was fully cooked!
It wasn’t beautiful, but it sure was delicious. :)
Time to get back down to work. Have a great day, my friends!
p.s. Please give some love to my latest fANNEtastic sponsor, Jen and Emily of Layers of Happiness! Layers of Happiness is a healthy living blog co-written by a mother-daughter team – isn’t that awesome? I had the pleasure of running with Emily, the daughter, at the Healthy Living Summit last year and she’s sweet as can be. :)
Here’s what they have to say: “We started journaling as a way to share the happiness that choosing a healthy lifestyle brings into your life. We have chosen to live a healthy lifestyle and hope our blog inspires that same choice within you!”
Check out their blog for all sorts of great recipes (I especially love their recent Acai Bowl recipe post – so pretty! – and the sound of their Hummus Crusted Chicken), healthy inspiration, and fun adventures. You can also find them on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
I haven’t even read this yet, but who makes that cute pink top you’re wearing to Crossfit???
It’s also Reebok! Sorry for the delayed response – trying to find it on their website but couldn’t… I got it last year so hopefully it’s still up there. I’m waiting to hear back from them so if I get a link to it, I’ll share it! :)
Okay sadly it’s no longer on their website! But this top is similar (and really really soft): http://shop.reebok.com/us/product/women-yoga-long-bra-top-apparel/TT034?cid=Z48888&breadcrumb=sxZu3Z1z13y9gZ1z13070Z1z11zrf
Thanks, Anne!
The new banner is beautiful, so clean and fresh, I love it!
Yoga and stretching helped me a lot with weight lifting, it corrected my posture a lot and thus I am finally able to do perfect squats and also push ups – funny thing, that yoga improved my strength in a way that the usual “try to do your push ups on your knees”-tactic never did.
Totally agree re: yoga vs. knee pushups! Good for you!
Curious – what’s a toe touch burpee?
Man, that’s a lot of wall balls! I bet your legs are feeling it today :)
Love PicMonkey – the new header looks great!
A toe touch burpee is just half a burpee – you touch your toes, then stand up and jump! :)
The dinner looks delicious! I love artichokes, and love simple and quick dinners even more!
There’s so many things I want to say about this post! lol.
First, I LOVE pic monkey. The new header looks awesome! Second, cute shoes! Third, have so much fun at the CrossFit Games! Fourth, that recipe looks NOM. and Fifth… Hi! :) Miss you!
Miss you too! :)
Love the blog makeover and you’re right, PicMonkey is pretty much awesome!
Love the makeover – looks nice! I am 100% convinced that throwing whatever veggies you have in your fridge + some form of lean protein + some spices + tomato sauce makes a delicious, easy meal every single time. I call it my “Ugly Secret” – ha!
Loving the new sneakers! Crossfit games will be so much fun, not to mention such an incredible opportunity.
Love the new header! Speaking of website design stuff – when you converted from a .wordpress.com site to wordpress.org – did you do it all yourself or did you hire someone to actually move the site and set it up? I recently read a lot of horror stories about trying to move the site on your own and it being a disaster. I can do basic html/image editing but not much more than that. I really want to convert to a .com site but I’m super nervous and it being a lot of time/money to make the conversion. Thoughts?
I used wp site care to move me over! I would highly recommend hiring someone and saving yourself the hassle :)
Anne – First – thanks for the shout-out to us! We can wait to hear all about your trip to LA. How exciting. We love it out there and can’t wait to hear about what you did while visiting.
Jen
Looks great! I’ve been thinking about moving from wordpress to bluehost but am not quite ready to make the switch yet. Have fun on your crossfit games trip this weekend!
That dinner looks awesome! Love easy meals like that!
Thanks again for recommending Ryan, looking forward to working with him! Love the new social media links too! And…65 pounds is nothing to be sniffed at!!!
Hi Anne,
I just got my new Ravenna 4’s in the mail, with a coupon and points I got them for $50 so that was a score! I haven’t had a chance to try them yet because at the same time I got a pair of Nike LunarGlide’s and so far these are my ultimate sneaker! I usually where my nanos for crossfit except for when we do a lot of running and these come in handy for that. I hope to use my Brooks sneaks for my new 5k coming up…Thanks for the advice!
Enjoy the shoes! :)
Thank you for explaining wall balls! I’ve always wondered what they are ;)
Very impressive workout, Anne — and congrats on the trip to LA. Sounds awesome!
Love the new header!
Safe travels to LA… Sounds like an amazing experience.
Love the new header and so psyched for the games this weekend, yay! :) Wallballs are my favorite crossfit exercise (that seems like the wrong word for them??), I would’ve LOVED that wod!
I weirdly like them, too. :) See you soon!!
Yay for yoga benefits! Love the new header, too!
Ooh! I need to try those new CrossFit shoes! I’m still WODing in my running shoes.
How exciting you’re going to the CrossFit games! I’ve been watching clips online. They’re so inspiring!
Love the new header…very clean and graphic. Great images too! Hope you have a great time at the CF Games. One of our coaches at CrossFit Beacon, Annie Michel, finished 8th today for women 55-59. We’re so proud of her. I can’t wait to hear about your experience at the Games.
That’s so awesome! Can’t wait to see you guys next weekend! :)
Hey Anne! I recently gave my blog a makeover too! Yours looks great!
Feel free to check mine out at sneakersandsandals.com :)
Have a great day!!
Looks great! :)