Hello and happy happy Friday!

I hope your first week of the new year has gone well 🙂  Anyone else completely exhausted and ready for the weekend?  My classes don’t begin until next week, so I felt like I was trying to cram in all the other things I want/need/like to do this week which left me feeling pretty tired last night.  Right now I’m awake and ready to go (morning person!), but I have a feeling it will be another early night in bed 😉

I realize it’s been a long while since I’ve posted a Five Things Friday post, and I completely apologize!! I know you guys really like these posts, so after a long absence I’m going to wrap up the first full week of the near with a recap of my life this week.

Enjoy!

Five Things I Ate:

• Salmon Nicoise Salad.  I don’t really have a recipe for this, it’s just something I kind of throw together.  Basically what I did was top romaine lettuce with roasted green beans , roasted tomatoes, radishes, roasted fingerling potatoes, and baked salmon.  I then whipped up a dressing of dijon and white balsamic vinegar.  As you can see, it’s more of a non-traditional nicoise salad as I didn’t include hard boiled egg or olives, I roasted the green beans instead of blanching them, and I used salmon instead of tuna.  That being said, it was completely delicious and satisfying.  (and easy!)
• Oatmeal with berries.  I’m not sure what it is, but that breakfast has tasted so good to me this week!
• Smoothie bowl.  Yes, the weather is chilly here, but I’ve been taking a few hot yoga classes and after burning up for 60-75 minutes nothing sounds better than a bowl full of cold.

• Zucchini noodles with shrimp and my Thai Peanut Everything Sauce.  Super simple and tasty.
• Oranges.  I ended my lunch with an orange a couple of times this week and it totally hit the sweet tooth spot.  Yum!

Five Workouts:

• Running with Bernie
• Teaching Bodypump (felt so good to be back!)
• Boot Camp
• Indoor Cycling
• Yoga (I’m going to my 4th class this week this morning!)

Brian and I joined Yoga Pod because of their 21/31 challenge.  The challenge is to complete 21 days of yoga in the month of January (31 days).  So far, we are off to a great start.  I’ll be taking my 6th total class this morning.  While I really am loving the challenge of it, I am kind of shocked by how much of a “challenge” it really is! I’m still incorporating many of my usual workouts and I’ll be honest, doing lots of yoga is kind of tiring!  That being said, I’m really hoping to gain a little flexibility, and I hope that I can do crow pose consistently by the end of the challenge.

Five Things Making Me Happy:

• Photography!  While I am definitely NOT a great photographer, I think it’s really fun and fascinating to learn.  I’ve been doing a lot of reading of blog posts and tutorials and I am really trying to up the game on many of the photos I post here for recipes and workouts.  Ashley from Edible Perspective has an amazing “Photography 101” section on her blog that really breaks things down and gives little tasks for readers to try as they work on improving their photography.
• Skiing.  Last Saturday, Brian and I spent the entire day in ski lessons so that we could brush up on our technique from last year.  Tomorrow, I have another full day ski lesson and Brian will just be skiing all day.  I’m hoping that I feel REALLY confident by the end of the day, but I’ll be honest in saying that I think my favorite part about skiing will always be the “other” stuff (coffee at the cute local coffee shops, soaking in the hot tub, etc…)

It was cold last weekend!

• Cooking!  I received several cook books for Christmas and I am LOVING reading through each one, tabbing recipes to make in the future, and feeling inspired to get back in the kitchen and cook after a long hiatus during our Christmas holiday.
• Starting off the new year.  I am feeling (mostly) ready to jump into this semester of classes.  I’ve updated my quarterly goals list, I’ve made a list of school supplies I need, I have cleaned out my school folders from last semester, and my books have arrived.  I’m ready to knock this semester out of the park 🙂
• Getting over the post holiday blues.  While there are still moments when I’m like “I can’t believe the holidays are over…” I’m really working on putting that energy towards moving forward and making this the best year possible.

Five Posts I Have Loved:

• The Ins and Outs of Hot Yoga via Peanut Butter Runner | This is perfect for those who are new to hot yoga or those that are intimidated to try their first hot yoga class.
• Popsugar 2 Week Clean Eating Meal Plan | This would be great for people who want it ALL spelled out for them.  There is no guessing involved here, and from what it appears I think this whole plan is free!! Two of my RD idols (Stephanie Clark & Willow Jarosh) developed this plan complete with pictures, grocery lists, prepping tips, recipes, and tips for success to get back on track after indulgent holiday eating.
• 5 Things to Add to your Diet in 2016 via The Lean Green Bean | So many magazines, web sites, etc focus on cutting things out of your diet in order to get healthy, in shape, fit, etc…am I right?  I absolutely LOVE Lindsay’s balanced, realistic, and healthy approach to making 2016 a healthier year.
• 16 Healthier Easy Recipes to Try in 2016 via Well Plated | A great list of new recipes to try that are packed with produce.
• 29 Healthy Pancakes (Vegan, Paleo, Whole Grain, and Gluten Free Options!) via Ambitious Kitchen | I love pancakes and these recipes look really tasty!

I hope you all have an amazing Friday and a fun weekend!

Your Turn:

• Share something about your first week of the new year with me 🙂