Yesterday I mentioned that I would explain why MSP and I celebrated our Christmas last night (the 23rd).  Here’s the quick version:  we used to always have our Christmas on the night of Christmas Eve and then over time we moved it to the first night of our long holiday weekend, no matter what that day falls on.  We don’t have kids in the household and we (I) love love love Christmas.  Might be an odd tradition to some, but it totally works for us.  We love celebrating Christmas when it’s dark out instead of first thing in the morning.  The ambiance just seems more festive, with the lights on the tree and sitting next to the fireplace.  We happened to learn last night that in the Netherlands (and a few other locations), Christmas presents are actually opened on December 5 (Sinterklaas) so actually we’re a few weeks LATE! 

First we start with some happy hour snacks!

Hot Tamari Almonds (heat raw almonds on low stovetop, toss with tamari and a squeeze or two of sriracha… stir occasionally until tamari cooks down)
Kalamata Olives
Herbed Chevre (goat cheese)
Apple Slices
Manchego (sheep’s milk cheese)
Grapes
White Cheddar
Green Pea Pesto
Spelt Crackers
Rolled Turkey slices

My eyes were way bigger than my stomach when I set out our snacks.  We were stuffed in a hurry and most of it went back into the fridge.

Then we let the pups open their wrapped “Fruitables” – Riley absolutely knows how to unwrap gifts.  Rascal just waits until Riley does all the work, then he steals the treats.

Then we search out some of the best holiday light displays in the area, while sipping hot chocolate and listening to Christmas music in the car.  There were some REALLY good ones last night.

And finally we make our way home to open our gifts from friends and family.  It was a perfectly festive evening!

On the topic of gifts, I wanted to show you what sweet Allison sent to me for Christmas.  She is a fellow blogger, over at One Day at a Time and she is an AMAZING baker. You might remember the cookies she sent me in June.  Well this week I received a wonderful gift package in the mail from her – it was a complete surprise!  I was truly touched by her thoughtful (and very generous) gift.  In addition to her delicious Fleur de sel caramels (homemade!) she also included an adorable “S” ornament AND a Starbucks ornament to add to my collection!!  Allison, thank you so much!

Allison takes orders for custom baking:

If you want to see some of her work, click on these links to check out these cookies she did for a BABY SHOWER, HALLOWEEN COOKIES/CUPCAKES, and CAKE POPS!  She does beautiful work and I can attest to the TASTINESS of her creations.  So if you think you might be hosting a special occasion where you’d like to WOW some people, give her a call or an email!  I think it’s great to see people start a business based on their passion!

***

On the DDSD front, it was a lazy day around here so a dog walk in the sunshine was the extent of our movement.  We saw a “cheapseat” 9:25 AM showing of “The Fighter” though, so I FELT like I was doing a boxing workout!  (Excellent movie if you are looking for one to see this weekend!)

I may be offline a bit over the holiday weekend – we’ll see how the days play out.  Feel free to log any DDSD exercise in the comments sections of any December post as they all come to my email.  Or you can hold them till the next post.  Totally up to you!

Hope you have a WONDERFUL holiday weekend!  See you next time!

– Shari B. =)

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So while the rest of the country seems to be in a deep freeze, here in Denver it is currently:

65 degrees!  Woot woot!

Today should have been a strength day (lower body) but when the time came to work out, I just couldn’t resist getting outside.  The iron will be there tomorrow.  The 65 degree weather will not.

I thought about going by myself, but another thing I couldn’t resist was the look from a certain set of puppy eyes.

So the crazy beasts went with me.  At least this way I get a resistance workout at the same time.

Notice the tight grip on the leash (nice pic of my thumb too, huh?)    The dogs always provide a nice bicep workout!

Something is definitely moving into the mountains – we might actually get some snow down here tomorrow night.  Check out our walking path zig-zagging all the way off the distance.  I do love that about where we live!

It was so nice out while I was walking I actually was wearing a T-SHIRT and I listened to xmas music on Pandora so that I could remind myself we are in the middle of December!

While writing this post, I’ve been jamming to a little Rihanna so now I’m pumped up enough to run downstairs to my studio and bust out some cardio.  I’m currently obsessed with her song “What’s My Name?” with Drake.  Can’t help but want to move when I hear that song!

What was your DDSD movement for the day?

Sounds like all of us doing the challenge have been battling a little bit of the holiday bugs that come and go.  Only 17 more days – we can do this!

Have a great afternoon!

– Shari B. =)

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It is December 11 and we’ve still had no snow.  I mean, we’ve had a flake or two here and there, but nothing that’s “stuck”.  One of our local news stations posted a graphic showing the snow we’ve had this season compared to last.

• Last year between September and December we’d already been dumped on a total of OVER 3 FEET of snow.
• This year, in the same time frame?  An inch and a half.

Trust me, I’m NOT complaining!    Last Friday we had a record HIGH temp of 69.  Next Monday and Tuesday we are looking at mid-60s AGAIN.  This is the kind of weather that drew me to this state way back in 1991.

Thank you Mother Nature for giving me the mild start to the winter I’d hoped for, seeing how I have to drive 120 miles a day for my commute to and from school.  I owe ya one!

Which leads me to my Saturday DDSD Challenge update:  we just got back from taking the crazy beasts for a good walk, which had the desired outcome of THIS:

Gotta love it when the dogs are tuckered out!

But before we did that, we also did 45 minutes of weights with a chest/back push pull routine.  Lots of pushups, lots of pulldowns, lots of rows.  Oh yeah, I’ll feel it tomorrow!

Then I followed it up with a 20 oz green post-workout smoothie (1 scoop Vega Whole Health Optimizer, 1/2 scoop Sun Warrior rice protein, 3/4 banana, kale leaves and spinach leaves):

How are you doing on your challenge?  Only 20 days left already!  Look how time flies!  Will you get to the end of that 20 days and think, WOW I DID IT?

Have a SUPER Saturday blog buds!

– Shari B. =)

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Well, the weekend is almost over – between the event Friday night and all the homework I’ve been doing yesterday and today, it FLEW by.

Did you guys think I forgot to GET MOVIN’ today for our challenge?  Heck no!  We just got back from taking the dogs out for a walk (poor Riley hasn’t been on a walk since the Tuesday before Thanksgiving when she injured her hip at the dog park, so they were EXCITED to go on a walk today!)  That’s the extent of today’s ‘body moving’, unless I get in a little Wii boxing tonight after I throw my laptop out the window… er I mean, after I decide to throw in the towel on homework for the night.

Here’s a little glimpse of one of the recipes I created for this assignment (the one with the sauce was my plate, the one without was MSP’s plate):

These were the North African Crepes with Almond Fig Filling and Sweet Balsamic Reduction.  And they are gluten-free & dairy-free.

I’ve never eaten a fresh fig until this week.  Is that weird or is that typical?  Do you eat fresh figs?

Well friends, back to homework!  Just wanted to say hello – and for those of you doing the DDSD challenge, if you are posting exercise info before I get out here with a blog post, feel free to put the comment on a previous post.  They all come to my email regardless so I’ll still see what you did!

Hope your week starts off GREAT tomorrow!

– Shari B. =)

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  Mother Nature is giving us plenty of green to look at this week for the holiday!  We’re having a little burst of spring!  It was over 60 degrees out and we get two more days of this!  Wahoo!

So you know what that meant for yesterday’s exercise right?  OUTDOOR RUN!  4.88 miles. It was glorious.  Then in the evening before dinner we took the dogs out for a walk which came to about 2.7 miles.  If Riley didn’t need to stop THREE times for No. 2 every time we walk her we’d be able to get more mileage in!  (I’m promise I’m not exaggerating about that!) Between Rascal’s one stop and Riley’s three stops, not only do we use a lot of pick-up bags (biodegradable, of course!) but it takes forever to complete a loop of less than 3 miles.  This is why I stopped running with them!

The best part of walking them is this:

Love it when they are tuckered out in the house and CALM!

So in honor of the GREEN holiday, I challenge you to drink a GREEN SMOOTHIE today in addition to wearing green (or I might have to pinch you!) 

If you need a recipe, check out the Build-A-Meal tab to pick one and get started!

I am adding Sweet Clover sprouts to my smoothies (and wraps) this week, since they had them at the store, which is a fun change from my usual alfalfa sprouts and quite fitting for St. Patty’s Day!

What is your favorite GREEN food to add to smoothies or sandwiches? I think mine is probably avocado.  I get pretty excited when I slice open an avocado and it is perfectly green with no brown spots.  I love it smeared on things (in place of mayo or butter), I love it chopped and added into a salad, and I especially LOVE the creamy texture that avocado adds to my green smoothies!

Off to get the crazy day of the week started!  Wednesdays are bananas!

Have a FUN & SAFE St. Patty’s Day everyone!  Let me know if you had a green smoothie today!

– Shari B. =)

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I hope that you all had a marvelous weekend.  Ours was absolutely LOVELY.

Saturday MSP and I met up with a friend for a run at our favorite hilly trail where we did a two-loop route for a total of 5.48 miles, which included almost 1000′ of elevation gain.  It rocked. My pre-run fuel of two pieces of Ezekial toast with a light smear of organic raw almond butter and a sprinkle of coconut completely did the trick.  I felt perfectly energized for the run.

After we got back and did some deep stretching, I made a delicious post-run green smoothie.  Something about putting my smoothie in this container makes it look like some sort of chemistry class experiment!

At lunchtime I was in the mood for some of the baby bellas I’d purchased so I lightly sauteed them and added some spinach.

Then I wrapped them up in a whole wheat tortilla with some tomato, hummus, pepitas and very light sprinkle of shredded raw goat cheddar.  And an umeboshi plum on the side with some extra spinach.  I came back for more mushrooms after I finished the wrap and polished off almost the entire batch!

On Sunday we wanted to get outside again and include the dogs, so we mapped out a route to a Starbucks and set out first thing in the morning.  We we able to access it almost directly using the bike trail, but we thought it would be a much longer route than it was.  We ended up only getting in 3.8 miles roundtrip.  But the dogs LOVED it and the trail has hills (because there is no place near us that DOESN’T have hills it seems) so we felt our calves and glutes as the day went on.

Some of the highlights from Sunday’s eats included some brown rice veggie rolls from Whole Foods:

A new vegan burrito (from the frozen section) that wasn’t too shabby for a good “lazy girl meal”…

To which I added my own salsa and avocado after heating:

And for some snackage during the football game, some homemade microwave popcorn with soy-free Earth Balance vegan spread, sea salt and nutritional yeast:

Our weekend felt like a perfect balance of exercise with healthy food, plus some relaxation and snacks.

***

How about you?  Did you have a FIT-filled weekend?

Those of you who are back at your desks today who may have missed the Saturday post, check out this reminder to Stop, Drop and Roll (Your Shoulders) while you are at your desks.

Thank you for all of your comments over the weekend – I’ll be replying to each of them as soon as I click the publish button on this post so don’t think I forgot about ya!  And coming up this week on FitFeat, I’ve got a few FitFeatures relating to prescription meds as well as tracking your exercise.

Have a magnificent Monday!

– Shari B. =)

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Well Monday turned out to be a fun exercise day.  First I did 25 minutes of intervals on the treadmill in the morning.  I really do get bored on the treadmill and have to vary my speed and/or incline constantly just to stay interested.  After a quick warm-up I did 1 minute intervals of 6.0, 6.5, 7.0, 7.5 mph running then walk one minute, then increase the incline a notch and do it again.  The time goes by so much faster that way.

Then when I pulled in the driveway after work, our street had been plowed again!  Which is good on one hand because at least they were moving all of the big ice chunks onto the sunny side of the street.  Unfortunately that also meant our ‘ice trench’ was covered up AGAIN!!!  So I put on my grubbies and some waterproof boots and went out there to dig yet another trench.  It was 50 degrees yesterday so things were just starting to melt a bit in the shaded part of our street.

This ice issue in front of our house has become the neighborhood comedy – neighbors sure like to chuckle at me every day as they drive by, thinking “Suckers!  You got stuck with the worst lot on the street!”    I appreciate that it at least provides a neverending workout, that’s for sure.

But THEN the exercise gets better … because it was so nice out, I couldn’t resist getting the dogs out for a some WOGGING!  It’s been so long I think they forgot what WOGGING is (and you readers may have as well!)  I can’t keep a steady pace with my crazy pups because they like to stop every two seconds to sniff something, then run, then sniff.   So we’re walking AND jogging:  WOGGING.  They had a blast and actually didn’t drive me insane this time.  I think it had something to do with the treats I stashed in my pocket.    It was perfect weather for a walk.  Now THIS is the Colorado winter weather I love and miss!

***

Every weekend, usually on Sunday, I sit down to come up with food ideas for the week for his dinners (mine are much easier because I always have veggies on hand and as such always have a salad, wrap, sandwich, soup, etc.)  This time MSP said he wanted me to make my mom’s chili during the week, but make it VEGETARIAN.  I’m sorry, say that again? Did you just tell me to make VEGETARIAN chili?  By George, he did!  He said he’d be fine if I used a meat substitute for the beef so that we could both eat it.  (When I made it last time, I just made two pots side by side, mine without beef, his with.) He’s the best, huh?  No wonder I love him to pieces. 

So I picked up some Gimme Lean “Ground Beef Style Veggie Protein” and used that in place of the beef.  My mom’s chili is awesome.  We love it.  And it’s very easy and we had it last night for dinner.

I always seem to change the recipe around in some way.  Here’s what I did this time:

Brown 1 package Gimme Lean “ground beef” veggie product in the bottom of  a large soup pot.  If you like onions, you can brown it with that.  I just added a little onion powder, since MSP doesn’t like onions.

After browning, add the following to the pot:

• 46 oz can of tomato juice
• 15 oz can organic azuki beans (rinsed & drained)
• 15 oz can organic kidney beans (rinsed & drained)
• 1/4 tsp celery salt
• 1/2 to 1 tsp garlic salt
• 2 Tbsp chili powder

Simmer for a few hours.

I plated my helping over some spiralized zucchini (just for Cindy, since she wants a spiralizer) and then topped it with some nutritional yeast (in place of cheese).  Mmmm my mom’s home cooking, with a twist!

What are your favorite beans to use in chili?  Are you a WHITE BEAN chili lover or a RED BEAN chili lover? I like ALL chili colors!    I don’t think I could pick a favorite.  I just love BEANS, period!

– Shari B.  =)

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We got to eat some Chinese food for lunch:

Miso Soup

Spicy Shrimp & Veggies

We finally got the pups out for a WOG (it’s been a long time!) 

We “visited” Wii Resort for an activity-filled afternoon:  canoeing, skydiving, wakeboarding, archery, swordfighting, frisbee, ping-pong, tandem cycling and jet-skiing.  I think we played EVERY game that comes on this disc.

I was working so hard playing I needed a protein-shake break!  This one turned out SOOOO yummy!  Half a scoop of my new Life’s Basics protein, half a scoop of chocolate Vega, almond milk and carob powder.  Can’t beat a protein shake that mimics a chocolate milkshake.

We had a delicious dinner of salad and pita pizza:

This particular pita pizza turned out to be KNOCK-YER-SOX-OFF good.  I cut half of the pita off like so:

Added a light smear of olive oil, nutritional yeast, sliced romas, olives, a very LIGHT sprinkle of shredded raw goat cheddar.  Then I lightly sauteed one whole portabella, 1/3 zucchini, and a big handful of spinach to add on top.  Baked at 425 for about 10 minutes and then devoured. It was tastebud heaven.

Then we enjoyed a little anniversary treat:  MSP and I shared a piece of white cake (to give the ‘illusion’ of wedding cake – but wedding cake always tastes so much better – must be all the LOVE surrounding it at receptions!)

It was the perfect day – hanging out together and having a lot of laughs.

Today is ‘back to business’ day:  get out for a run, some blog work, take down the Christmas tree and decorations, housecleaning, write thank-you notes, etc.  A “to-do list” kind of day!

But before I get busy on ‘chores’, I have to rewind a bit back to new Year’s Eve.  Talk about another fun-filled day!

I woke up at 4:00 AM as you may recall from my post that morning, worried that I would NEVER be able to make it until midnight.  I got in 45 minutes of cardio (treadmill/boogie combo) so that was good.  The work day flew by and then I came home to start getting my stuff organized to take to the dinner we were invited to that evening.

I took a huge salad, the sweet cashew cheese with crackers, hummus and baked pita chips, a big veggie tray and some marinated mushrooms:

Even MSP liked the cashew cheese (be sure to serve it with a slightly sweet cracker – I think it makes a big difference.  We used Carr’s Whole Wheat cracker which almost has a shortbread texture.)

The dinner our friends made was AMAZING.  I enjoyed two HUGE crab legs while MSP had steak (he’s the Turf to my Surf.)  We all played Wii “Band Hero” (which I must admit I am TERRIBLE at) right up until it was time to see the ball drop.  And at about 12:20, it was time for us to scoot so we could get home and to sleep.  I was awake until 1:00 (which meant by that time I’d been up for 21 hours straight).  I was out cold the minute my head hit the pillow.

The last few days have been filled with such good times, great friends, fun healthy food, games that require movement – the perfect ending to the year Thursday night and the perfect start to the new year yesterday.

Here’s to 364 more days just like it!

Have a SWELL Saturday, FitFeat friends!

– Shari B. =)

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I’d say it’s beginning to look a little TOO much like Christmas inside our house.  I present exhibit A.

No, that is not a freezer in dire need of defrosting.  Look very closely – zoom in!  That would be the INSIDE of our guest bedroom window.  This next photo might make a pretty postcard if only the ICE were on the OUTSIDE!! 

This is apparently what a few days of below-zero nights and days in the single digits does to our windows.  We’ve lived in this house for 4 years and have never seen this happen – it was 1/4″ thick at the bottom, at least!  Need new windows much?  (Know any blogs giving away windows instead of VitaMix blenders?)  You’d think we lived in a house that was 100  years old.  It’s only 12 years old!  

I am showing you these pictures so you have proof of why I haven’t been outside running.  Or dog-wogging. 

(And as a side note for the record, yes it is true – Heather is giving away a VitaMix - you have until Sunday so get on over there and enter!)

Speaking of blending, someone is anxiously awaiting their green smoothie … and it’s NOT me!

Rascal now knows that when he hears the sound of the blender, he gets a little green smoothie poured into his bowl.  (And judging from that roll of pudge behind his neck,  you can see that he could use a few green smoothies in place of his “lean” dog food… I think I want our money back.  It’s making them FATTER!)

26 ounces for me… 3 oz for each of the pups! 

Lunch at work today was a vegan Sunshine burger patty topped with 1/4 avocado, a slice of tomato and a drizzle of peppercorn ranch.  It was perfect.  If I can’t SEE sunshine, at least I can eat some.

A tall soy steamer on my way home.

A quick-n-easy veggie wrap for dinner (Nasoya FF mayo, 1/4 avocado, tomato, spinach, sea salt & pepper on a whole wheat tortilla. 

I also had a GINGER cookie that has been taunting me since Sunday.  Just had to do it. 

Thursday’s exercise was a TOTAL BLAST.  As usual I bored of the treadmill after 32 minutes and had to move on to a little BOOGIE session!  And the songs that were coming from Pandora.com were so good I couldn’t stop!  So I got another 40 minutes of DANCE  DANCE CARDIO in my basement.  Too .. much .. fun .. to actually be counted as exercise!  But my heart rate stayed in the 150′s so heck yeah it counts!

During my training client’s session Thursday morning, we saw an ad for the new Wii game called “Just Dance”.  Have you seen this???  I am SO going to rent it.  It looks silly yet insanely fun!  Now I won’t have to hide in the basement to get my dance on … I’ll be able to do it right in front of the TV!

If this is the only way I can get MSP to dance with me, I’ll take it! 

Have a FANTASTIC Friday, friends!  Make it a FEATful day!

– Shari B =)

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So “Thai-hini StirFry” was dinner last night!  I used to make a Spicy Thai Peanut Stirfry developed by Stella’s Kitchen.  But I have tweaked it so much that now it’s not even remotely like the original.  I finally gave into HEAB’s subliminal tahini messages and bought jar yesterday.  

For the sauce:

• 1/4 c tahini
• 2 tsp thai red curry paste
• 1 tbsp lite soy sauce
• 3 tbsp water
• 3/4 tsp honey
• 1/2 tsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp pineapple juice (my stirfry had a few chunks of pineapple in it, but you can omit the juice if you aren’t adding pineapple)

Mix all ingredients with a fork until smooth and creamy.

This was a double batch of sauce because I needed to make one stir-fry pan for MSP (with meat) and one for moi (without meat).  If you like more spicy HEAT in your food, add more of the red curry paste, and maybe a pinch of cayenne & red pepper flakes.

My pan had carrot, celery, broccoli, zucchini, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, and about 6 bite-sized pieces of pineapple.  Stirfried for about 5 minutes in a smidge of coconut oil.  Once the veggies are done, add the “thai-hini” sauce, mix around to coat veggies (adding water a few tablespoons at a time if you like a thinner consistency.)  Serve.

For a meat version, I stirfried one large chicken breast cut into bite-sized pieces until close to done, then added in some bamboo shoots, water chestnuts and whole baby corn cobs.  Continue stirfrying until the veggies are heated through, then add the “thai-hini” sauce, coat well (again adding a little water if you like it thinner).  I served his on a bed of brown rice and sprinkled both plates with toasted sesame seeds.  

The final products:

We sat down last evening ready to enjoy “Modern Family” as I had mentioned in yesterday’s post, only to find that it WASN’T ON thanks to the CMA’s.  Noooooo!  I had been looking forward to it all day.  I must admit I was a little crushed.    Recorded “Mad Men” would have to suffice.

To recap the rest of the Tuesday eats, I started the morning post-yoga and post-dog wogging with a scoop of Amazing Meal (green food drink).  A green smoothie was still sounding a little to bone-chilling, and this mixture was room temperature. 

Mid-morning I had the usual piece of toasted Ezekial with raw almond butter and raw honey drizzle.  I almost ALWAYS forget the photo before taking the first bite.  A little green tea on the side:

Lunch was a good sized salad that somehow looks small when shown below.  Spinach, zucchini ribbons, carrot shavings, dulse, sundried tomatoes, with about 1/2 tbsp of Goddess dressing and the leftover half of a Sunshine burger.   New lesson learned:  reheated sunshine burgers become sunshine rocks.   And not “rocks” like “dude that rocks” but rocks like this:

And a bubbly on the side!  Gingerberry flavor!  Gotta keep pumping those probiotics in me to fight off all the flu bugs out there!

The salad was so tasty, I thought you’d like a close-up!

Dessert was a large spoonfull of mashed sweet potato and cinnamon.

How ’bout  my fortune with a side of Ginger Snap Larabar? 

Why thank you fortune, I agree!

I made a “quick trip” to the grocery store to pick up a few things to make dinner.  And it turned into this:

I can never make it out of the grocery store for less than $40.  I could go EVERY day and still end up with $40 worth of stuff each time.  The same thing happens with Costco only those visits are always $100.  What is this strange phenomenon??  MSP is having lunch with a coworker today at Whole Foods and invited me along, but I’m scared that another $40 will mysteriously fly out of my wallet if I step through their front doors!

But look at all the goodies I got!  Spinach, sprouts, broccoli, clementines, apples, grapefruit, avocado, mango, tomato, squash, bananas, pear and even some cranberries courtesy of all of Cindy’s cranberry creations.  I too would like a facemask that I nibble on while applying!

Today’s discussion:

Does this happen to you at the grocery store?  Do you avoid going often because you suffer from this odd affliction that I too have?    Drop me a comment – I need to know if I’m alone in this or not! 

Random note:

Can you believe Thanksgiving is only 2 weeks away???  What?  I’ll be putting up my Christmas tree and decorations two weeks from tomorrow?  (I always do this on the day after Thanksgiving.)  I better break out my Harry Connick Jr. holiday CD and start baking some healthy cookies, so I can force myself into the holiday mood!  I love this time of year – it’s just that this year it seems to have really snuck up on me.

Bday Wishes:

Also, I’d like to give a bday shout-out to Gina the Fitnessista.  Enjoy YOUR day!!   

Have a TERRIFIC Thursday everyone!

– Shari B. =)

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