Climbing, FitFluential, Fitness, Health, Photos, Running

Fitness Recap: I swore during yoga class

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Yeah, during Power Yoga last Thursday, with our intense Russian instructor, with an accent so thick she’s hard to understand. So I’m there looking around to see what everyone else is doing, then copy.

Does anyone else get their left and right’s mixed up during a yoga class? I really have to think about what I’m doing, to make sure I’m following along correctly.

At one point she had us doing handstands, which was fun for me, as I’m used to doing them (against a wall) at CrossFit. We did that for a bit, but then we switched for a forearm/headstand. It killed my brain, and felt like it was getting smooshed. I might have let out the f-word when I was falling down after a few attempts. I did manage to get up though, and was much more stable in that position, than the handstand. Score.

I feel like a lot of bloggers are getting into yoga lately. It’s a good thing! For any sport really. I remember thinking it was for hippies a few years ago, but man — I almost crave going.

I’ve only been doing yoga regularly since late May, and I’ve been noticing tremendous amount of change in my flexibility. I’m enjoying it! I usually go to a yoga class, and immediately follow through with an hour or so of bouldering. Which I feel makes me a stronger climber.

Boulder V4 greenSo much so, I’ve been working on this green V4 pinchy problem. Some of the holds suck, especially towards the bottom, but once you get to the top-ish, it’s okay. I cannot get the second last green hold. Your left foot is not stable at all on the under-hanging pinches. It’s awesome, and frustrating.

One more thing before I jump into the fitness recap. The Guy and I bought a family membership to a pool!

Let’s get to it:

Monday June 16: 90 minutes of bouldering, and 30 minute pool lane swim!

Tuesday June 17: 75 minutes of yin yoga, 90 minutes bouldering

Wednesday June 18: Off

Thursday June 19: 75 minutes of power yoga, 45 minutes bouldering, 35 minute lane swim

Friday June 20: 75 minutes of yin yoga, 3 hours of top rope climbing with Ellen

Saturday June 21: 3.6 mile run (outside) with The Guy

Sunday June 22: Off

swim selfieSwimming pool selfie. Had to. Like I said earlier, I hadn’t been lane swimming since I was a teenager, training to be a lifeguard – which I failed. I can finally swim one length (25m) of the pool without stopping. Now I have to work on the breathing.

climbing shoe selfieIt’s going to sound cheesy, but I love it when Ellen and I go climbing together. For the most part, I do yoga and bouldering on my own. But about once a week, we get together and climb for hours. Literally, we are there for 3+ hours together, and while most of it is climbing, sometimes we just sit down on the cushiony carpet and just chat about anything and everything. I had to take a climbing shoe selfie of our feet the last time we were climbing together. Ha.

Tone It Up Gym bagMy Tone It Up gym bag is $24 off if any of you were interested in purchasing it. Gah. It’s still expensive.

When is the last time you went swimming?

How many times a week do you normally work out?

Are you watching any of the World Cup soccer games?
I honestly think world cup soccer players fall down easily because they want to catch their effing breath! No I’m not even joking!

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In the Kitchen, Photos, Reviews

Matcha Green Tea Powder: Review

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Matcha Green Tea PowderBack in May, Kiss Me Organics contacted me asking if I’d like to test out their matcha green tea. I’m a big orange pekoe tea drinker, and have been known to consume more than 1 cup a day. However, I’m not into the green tea as much. But their PR contact informed me that there’s much more things to do than just drink it. There’s a ton of baking, cooking and drinking recipes floating around where you can use powdered green tea — including MEAT. I know.

I rarely bake, and if I do it’s blueberry muffins. I stuck to a more simple task, putting it into our morning smoothies.

I sorta made the Berry Good Morning Smoothie from the Organic Matcha Green Tea Powder’s PDF recipe book (page 19). But I implemented my own berries and fruit. Inside this bad boy for two:

matcha smoothie1 banana /// 6 strawberries  /// 1 peach  /// 2 heaping tablespoons of nonfat plain greek yogurt 
1 tsp matcha with 2 tsp of warm water (to mix the matcha)  /// ice cubes /// skim milk

When I’m not using any powders in our drinks, I usually opt for putting in a few dashes of cinnamon, a squirt of agave sweetener, a dash of vanilla extract and a tiny bit of unsweetened cocoa powder.

A lot of these products I’m reviewing are impractical for me to keep purchasing and using each day. It’s not something I’m willing to spend my money on at the moment. The matcha green tea retails for $30, and the skoop I reviewed the other week, was twice that amount. I’m not sure I’d be noticing a significant amount of change in energy, or feeling overall wellness. I think we’d skip out on this if we were to purchase it ourselves. But luckily, I’m here to try a few things out on my blog, and give my full honest review. I know tons of people who LOVE this stuff, and I’ve already gave my 2nd package of the Matcha Green Tea Powder I received, to my climbing buddy, Ellen.

I haven’t tried making green tea with it yet, because I can’t simply say no to a cuppa orange pekoe over the green tea (yet). But apparently Matcha Green Tea contains more than 137 times the antioxidants found in a cup of brewed tea. Huh!

I have a bag of Matcha Green Tea Powder to share with one of you guys. Enter using the Rafflecopter form below, telling me how you’d mix yours.

Giveaway is open to residents of USA + Canada.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Beauty, Photos, Reviews

Dior Addict It-Lash Review

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Dior-It-Lash-collectionI am a blogger cliché, photographing beauty products on a fur rug. Hand me some peonies, and macaroons and we’ll be set for a typical filtered instagram shot. I still think it’s beautiful, even if it’s on my $9.99 faux fur rug from Ikea.

Dior has launched the Dior Addict It-Lash collection that plays up the magic in your eyes with some bold bright colours that can easily be tamed down for an every day look. Dior-It-Line-PurpleCheck it out, I’m wearing the Dior It-Line in purple to show you how it’s done. Subtle but POW-POW it’s there. Am I right?

Pink too! Dior-It-Line-Pink

Side-by-side comparison of the two colours. (Click the images to enlarge)Dior-It-Liners

Dior-It-LineWhen I opened the packaging, I could definitely see myself stepping out of my comfort zone in playing with these fun colours. I wanted to make them work.

The It-Liners are a gel formula, which means that the colours are daring, bright, and as bold as you’d expect them to be, when swiped onto the skin. I swatched them on my hands before going for a sweaty 5km run on the treadmill, and they stayed put — of course, until after I smooshed them with my hand to see if they’d budge. Ha.

Dior-ItLash-ItLineDior Addict It-Lash has been marketed as Dior’s “do-it-all” mascara. But I have to disagree on their part. It supposedly gives both volume and length. I never seem to have a problem with mascaras since I’ve told you many times I am blessed with naturally long lashes. And, while I agree it gives a tremendous amount of length, it only gave a hint of volume. The formulation of the mascara was a little too liquidy for my liking, and is most likely prone to spider-lashes (clumping) if you’re not careful with the application. I much prefer Dior’s DiorShow mascara which has a big fat wand.

I have heard on other reviews that the It-Lash is comparable to the Benefit They’re Real mascara, as they have similar wands. I wouldn’t be able to compare those two for you, since I haven’t used the Benefit mascara.

I received the blue, pink, and black It-Lash mascara. Here’s a super close up of the blue mascara applied just at the tips of my lashes. The rest of my lashes was using one coat of Dior It-Lash in black.Dior-It-Lash-Blue-mascara

I also received some pretty fantastic monoshadows from Dior. Look at those colours. As a conservative make-up wearer, I’d either apply this with a small eye liner brush just above the lashes as a powder eye liner, or a smidge of colour in the crease to give a bit of a wow-effect. Dior-It-Lash-eyeshadows

And the swatches, can’t forget the swatches. Dior-Monoshadow-swatches

The Dior Addict It-Line ($32CDN / $31USD) and Dior Addict It-Lash mascara ($32CDN / $26USD) are all available in four colours: black, blue, purple, and pink. Then the Dior Mono eyeshadow ($32CDN / $29USD), is available in yellow, pink, purple and khol (black). This collection is now available at Dior counters nationwide and thebay.com

Dior-It-Lash-collectionDoes anything pique your interest? Thinking of picking up any of the items I showed today?

Disclaimer: The Dior Addict line was sent to me by the PR team. I never do paid posts/ads in exchange for product review. That is not honest. Opinions are my own, I’d like to keep it that way, since I like tellin’ ya how it is. I know not everyone can afford luxury beauty products, such as Dior. Perhaps you can splurge on one or two products from their collection if you enjoy the photos and swatches of what I have to say. I am lucky enough to work with Dior’s PR. As you know, I only work with companies who I 100% believe in. My opinion is never biased towards a brand, and always my own.

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