BluePrint Cleanse Review!

Was I hungry? Surprisingly not. Was I tired? Nope! Did I still workout and have energy? Hell yea!



On Tuesday and Wednesday I did a juice cleanse. Now I know what you’re thinking…those are bad for you…you don’t get enough nutrients…etc. Well, if you do the Master Cleanse, then yes…that one is bad for you because it’s just lemonade and cayenne pepper of some crap. I did a lot of research and found the BluePrint Cleanse (BPC), which is comprised of 6 delicious juices per day. There are different types of cleanses, and as a first-time cleanser, I went with level 1, the Renovation Cleanse.
“Renovation Cleanse – The beginner’s cleanse. If you are new to juicing, start here and work your way up.” I chose to cleanse for two days (no way I was jumping in to a 5 or 7 day cleanse!).

Each day you have 6 juices:
1. Green Juice – Kale, cucumber, romaine, celery, apple, spinach, and lemon (sounds gross but it’s tasty!)

2. P.A.M. – Pineapple, apple, mint (this is DELISH! I could drink this all day long! Would be good in a cocktail too…)

3. Green Juice again

4. Spicy Lemonade – Water, agave nectar, lemon, cayenne pepper (look familiar? This is all the master cleanse is. It’s a very tasty juice with a nice kick, but no way I can drink JUST this all day for days. No thank you master cleanse, I’ll stick with the BPC!)

5. Carrot Apple Beet Juice – carrot, apple, beet, celery, ginger, lemon juice

6. Cashew Milk – Filtered water, raw cashews, agave nectar, vanilla bean, cinnamon (this juice is SOOOO delicious…it’s like dessert but not too sweet. This was my fav with the P.A.M. juice in a close 2nd.)


The juices were all tasty, but I definitely had my favorites. I spread them out, drinking my first juice around 8am, second around 10:30am, third around 12:30pm, fourth around 3:00pm, fifth around 5:30pm, and the yumminess that is the last one around 7:30pm.


One of my concerns before juicing is if I would get headachy, lethargic, and crave real food. Well, I was pleasantly surprised that the juices were quite filling and I never had a rumble in my tummy. I shockingly never got a headache (I’m prone to migraines), and I had so much energy! The beauty of this cleanse, and I think the reason for my feel-so-good experience, is that each juice is loaded with essential nutrients that your body needs. So even though you’re not eating hard food, you’re still getting what you need.

I really felt great! I worked out Tuesday morning with my trainer and took a spin class Tuesday night, Wednesday morning I went for a short walk before work, and yesterday I worked out with my trainer again and practiced hot yoga after work.  I never felt too fatigued to workout :)

The only thing my body wanted but wasn’t getting was salt. I’m a BIG salt fan (chips, cheese, anything salty), and by Wednesday I was craving some salt. But I did not give in and I am happy I didn’t! I needed a mini salt detox anyways ;)
Would I do this BPC juice cleanse again? Absolutely! I wouldn’t choose to do more than 2 days, but that’s just me. Do it for however long you want! It’s great!
Disclaimer: BPC did not ask me to review this product. These opinions are strictly my own from personal experience with the product.


Happy Friday all!!!!  I hope you have a fabulous and fun weekend!!
<3 Mags

Three Things Thursday! -- Wedding Update!

1. Our wedding invitation calligraphy is done! My calligrapher finished addressing our wedding invitations! They look absolutely beautiful...I'm SO happy with them!  Now it’s time to put the invitations into the envelopes to be ready for mailing when the time is here!



2. My bridesmaids all have their dresses…and they love them! I’m so happy my girls are happy and I’m absolutely thrilled with the dresses. They will look gorgeous on all my girls!


3. We have tuxes picked out! My dashing fiancé chose his tux (he is going to look so handsome and straight up sexy!) and he picked out his groomsmen tuxes. They too will look dashing!

Happy Thursday!!
<3 Mags

Three Things Thursday!

1.  I've been working out so much and it feels great!!  I'm still not running as much (I'll get to that in a second), but I'm working with my trainer, and taking fitness classes and practicing yoga with my cousin.  I've been praticing yoga for a while now at my nearby yoga studio, and recently one of my coworkers put together a yoga group at work!  We had our first session this week and it's for an hour after work one night a week, mainly focusing on stretching, flexibility, breathing and relaxation.

2.  T-minus ONE MONTH 'til the Disneyland half marathon!  Yesterday I got an email with the "Final Race Instructions" and thought, 'Holy cow, it's nealry here!  Have I been training?  Not so much.'  I'm so excited about it though, especially since Sean and I ran the Disneyworld Half in Florida in January!  But I will need to implement some kind of walk/run ratio, more heavily weighted on the walk portions.  Which brings me to #3...

3.  I have a training plan!  Enough whining from me about how I don't have enough time to run.  I am going to make time even if it's only for 2 miles.  I like to follow a plan because it keeps me focused, so I put together a very simple 10-week training plan with runs 3x a week:  Mon & Wed - easy runs, Sat - long run

It's pretty simple and I have confidence I can make time for the miles.  When I built this plan yesterday (after receiving the Disneyland email), I scoped out the calendar and the Long Beach Marathon happens to be 10 weeks from now.  So I am "training for that" but as of right now I have no intention of running it this year...but ya never know!

So that's that!  Lots of activity, lots of endorphins, lots of happiness...and now, a lot more running!!!

Yoga for Runners Workshop

This past weekend I participated in a Yoga for Runners workshop at my yoga studio with my favorite yogi. The idea of the 2 hour class was to strengthen what is weak (such as hip adductors) and stretch what is tight (such as glutes and hamstrings), while focusing on balance and similar motions as running. All this contributes to more efficient and effortless running.


I mentioned the motion of running…by this, I mean directing energy forward. As runners, we want to keep our legs and arms moving forward and back, not side to side. In Vinyasa yoga, there is something called a sun salutation, which is a series of poses done in succession so that one pose flows into the other. One of the first poses in this series is bringing our arms out to the side and above our head, then performing a swan dive hinging at our hips and bringing our palms to the ground. In this Yoga for Runners workshop, the sun salutation was adjusted for runners by raising our arms in front of us instead of out to our sides, focusing on forward-moving energy. This was suggested as one the warm-ups to do before a run. Here is the sequence of yoga warm-ups to perform before a run:

After doing this sequence, my muscles felt warm and ready for a run!  It was said that you can do it once or thrice or as many times as you want until you feel warm-ed up.  Unless you're super tight, once should be great for a pre-run warm-up.  Then we did a series of strenghtening yoga poses, each one focusing on forward energy as opposed to side-to-side motions.  We practiced for about an hour and a half before we began our post-run cool-down:

I've been praticing yoga for a while now, and with each practice I discover something new about myself, sometimes physical sometimes emotional (and many times both).  I love yoga, and I think it's so beneficial for runners because when we run, our muscles tighten and shorten.  Yoga helps to stretch and strengthen, which is a huge added benefit to running.  This running workshop was sensational because it really emphasized that!  I learned a lot, strengthened my body, focused on my breathing to steady myself for a challenging yet effortless practice, and learned how to focus that energy into running motions.

Do you practice yoga?  What are some of your favorite poses?  Least favorite?

Mix, Mix, Mix it Up!

We are officially in our house! It’s such a great feeling and it really feels like “home.” One of my favorite rooms (who am I kidding, I love every room!) is the kitchen because 1) I love to cook, and 2) it’s a gathering area for company because it flows into the dining room and living room.


Something I wanted for, oh, probably the past 8 years was a Stand up KitchenAid Mixer because you can do EVERYTHING and make ANYTHING with it--cookies, brownies, bread, cakes, mashed potatoes, pasta with the pasta attachment, juice with the juicer attachment, ice cream, etc…the possibilities are endless! Don’t you want one too? :)

So when Sean and I built our registry, that was one of the first things to go on it! Well, for my birthday last month, my parents surprised me with the chrome KitchenAid to match our stainless steel appliances!! I am absolutely in love with it!!

I haven’t used it yet because we’ve been moving and unpacking, but I do have a delicious Blueberry Crumb Cake recipe, courtesy of Ina Garten, I plan on making with my fabulous chrome KitchenAid mixer. The Barefoot Contessa always has delicious recipes and I can’t wait to make this one.


What are some of your favorite recipes?


On the workout front, I trained twice this week with my trainer, who kicked my @$$ both times…I love it!! And Sean and I got a nice 2-3 mile walk in last night in our new neighborhood. It was absolutely wonderful. What can I say, la vie es bon :)
This weekend I’m taking a cardio class with my cousin and then we’re going paddle boarding!! I’ve never done it and I can’t wait!!


Have you ever been paddle boarding? Any advice?

Have an awesome and active weekend!
<3 Mags

Big Sky Country!

One of my favorite places in the world is Montana, aka Big Sky Country. My aunt has a house on a lake, and for the past many many years, we’ve spent some fraction of summer there (usually revolving around the 4th of July). It had been a couple of years since I went up due to work and schedules, but this year our entire family went up. The entire vacation was spent on the lake jet skiing, boating, water skiing, wakeboarding, and tubing. The weather was absolutely gorgeous! It was sunny and warm, and the neat thing about MT (why it’s called Big Sky Country) is that it can be hot and sunny with clear skies on one side of the lake, and on the other side there can be dark clouds. It’s absolutely gorgeous. Here are some pictures I took this year:

Me and my baby bro

Me and my nephew

Tubing with my baby bro and our sis-in-law (our big bro's wife)

My baby nephew

My big bro, his wife, baby bro, and my two nephews :)

Pure heaven

Me and baby bro

MT has spectacular sunsets

Weeeeeee!!!!

Cousins!!  I love them!!

Sunset :)

My baby nephew was SO close to walking!  He was walking with this chair all over the house!

Me and my cousin drinking sangria through Red Vines

Me and my beautiful cousins

Sunning on the dock

I love it here 

I also got a run in! First run for me in a LONG time! I woke up really early one morning before anyone in the house was awake (with the exception of my dad who is also an early bird…the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree :)), and it was the perfect morning for a run – cool with sporadic drizzling. I hit the pavement and I can’t even describe how great it felt to be surrounded by nature and breathing the cleanest and freshest air, filled with the scent of evergreens and wild flowers. It would drizzle then stop, drizzle then stop, and the sky was painted with spotted clouds and the sun trying to peak through.

Big Sky Country

 Trail run

Running in Montana

I ran 2 miles out, then turned around to head back. On my way back I got wrapped up in remembering my uncle and Grammie, both who loved that place more than anywhere. Side note: my uncle died of lung cancer 12 years ago, and he always said felt so peaceful when he was at his house in MT. And most of you know about my Grammie.  Anyways, I was remembering them and smiling, and I felt so close to them. I even forgot I was running. Then all of a sudden, a huge gust of wind came just as if they were saying hello and smiling back at me. I know it sounds bizarre, but I know that’s what it was. It was a magical feeling. Before I knew it, I was back at the house and the wind subsided. That run was one of the greatest runs I’ve ever had because everything just clicked.


After my run, it was back to water sports on the lake! Then we celebrated the 4th of July with our Annual Croquet Tournament complete with Sangria my cousin and I made, followed by our famous Fireworks show! My family always goes crazy with fireworks…we seriously have the best fireworks show on the lake!

Let the croquet tourney begin!  (And a view of the lake from the house)

Happy 4th of July from me and my cousin! 

4th of July tats with big bro!

That's right.

Glow sticks on the 4th!!

Glow sticks with my 2yo cousin

The arsenal.  We go nuts for fireworks!

The fireworks masters - my cousin, bro, and nephew

As always, it was a spectacular holiday filled with family, activities, nature, great food and drinks, and so much fun and love! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful and close-knit family <3

Life is Great!

It has been two weeks since I last blogged and so much has happened!

I just celebrated my quarter of a century birthday, and my birthday weekend was spent moving into our house!!! BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!! My family and friends helped me move, and man, if we never have to move again (which we probably wont!) I would be so happy! Moving is a pain in the butt. But it feels so great to have our own house…it’s feels like home :)

Just before the move, Sean surprised me for my birthday and took me to Vegas! I LOVE Vegas and usually go a couple times a year but hadn’t been in just about a year. I really wanted to go, so my fiancé, being the amazing man he is, took me to Vegas!! We stayed at the Hard Rock (super cool hotel) and lounged by the pool all day. It hit 113 degrees and luckily we had a cabana so we could escape into the shade if we needed…plus, our cabana had misters! Woohoo!

I’ve been working out a lot at the gym focusing on strength (arms, legs, back, shoulders, core), and my running is still sadly on the back burner. I’ll warm up on the treadmill, but I haven’t gotten a good “long run” in lately. Honestly, the days I’m not with my trainer, I’m either working (40-60 hours a week) or going to class. Any free time is spent driving to and from class, unpacking, or sleeping. If only there were more hours in a day… :) But I couldn’t be happier!


On another note, I can’t believe this weekend is the 4th of July holiday weekend!!! Do you have any exciting plans for the weekend?

Love,
Mags