so zen right now

Hi friends! Happy Monday! A friendly reminder for today….

We’ve got this.

How was the weekend? I hope you had a fun and relaxing one! I had the most relaxing weekend that I’ve had in… a very long time. My friend Betsy flew in from San Diego and we spent the weekend hanging out, shopping, eating all the delicious things, and enjoying a magical spa day at Miraval.

Before she arrived Friday morning, I had to finish my CPR certification. I did an online and classroom combination since my certification had expired, and it was SO convenient to do most of it online. (Word to the world: don’t wait until the night before to do the full online component because it takes a few hours. At the same time, it was really helpful for me to have a refresher on all of this information. I’ve been CPR certified for 10 years now, and every time I have to re-certify, I’m SO glad I did it and so thankful for the information.) 

Since the classroom component was only an hour long and I had to head directly to the airport to pick up Betsy, I took P to CPR with me. I figured you’re never too young to learn these valuable skills haha. (And yes, I called a couple of days before to make sure it would be ok, and they were totally cool with it.) 

She watched me do chest compressions on the Brayden mannequin thing and even tried to a couple of rescue breaths. (The instructor got a kick out of it.) When I needed to practice roll bandaging, she was my model. She thoroughly enjoyed having her pretend wound bandaged up. After I demoed my skills and got my certification, we drove to the airport to swoop Betsy.

We were all ready for brunch, so of course I had to take her to Prep & Pastry.

Kyle released new menus at Prep and Commoner & Co. this week and they’re both INSANE. He surprised us with a couple of fun things:

the cinnamon roll croissant 

(this is seriously a dream come true… a cinnamon roll with flaky croissant layers)

and two of their new toasts. One had an egg, bacon and maple butter, and crispy brussels sprouts, and the other was smoked salmon with an herbed goat cheese.

For my actual meal, I rolled with the classic breakfast: scrambled eggs, housemade turkey sausage, potatoes, and gluten-free toast.

It was perfection.

When we finished brunch, we came back to the house to chill for a bit, and then decided to get some fresh air. I thought Sabino Canyon would be a fun *Tucson thing* to do, and since we had time to kill before we needed to pick Liv up from school, we decided to go for a little hike.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous – I think it was in the mid 60s and sunny – and we walked a couple of miles, enjoying the scenery,

and miss P ran almost the entire time.

She is suddenly really, intensely into running.

A couple of weeks ago, we went to take the dogs for a walk, and instead of riding her scooter (as she always does), she said,

“No mama, I want to run. Please put my sneakers on.”

I put on her sneakers, and she ran the entire time we were walking the dogs. I’m familiar with the distance since we’ve ran and walked it so many times, and her little newly 3-year-old legs ran .75 miles. She did the same thing at Sabino Canyon… started running, and hardly stopped. Maybe I have a mini Janae-esque speedster on my hands???

(She asked to wear her gymnastics outfit, too, and I was just like, “You do you” haha until I realized that she likely wanted to wear athletic clothes for her run? I don’t even know.)

After the hike, we picked up Livi from school, watched a movie at home, and then went to La Encantada for shopping and dinner.

My mom, stepdad, and nana met us there, and we had an awesome meal at Blanco. I almost always get the chicken tacos, but switched it up by ordering the chicken enchiladas. It was a WISE choice. If you’re in Tucson, definitely try the enchiladas! (And PS their rice is soooooo buttery and good.)

Madre took over for the girls – she watched them for the weekend! She’s the real MVP – while Betsy and I went shopping and then checked into our hotel at Loew’s Ventana Canyon. 

This weekend was my bday gift, and all I really wanted was to hang out with Betsy and get some real sleep. I slept SO well both nights and it was amazing to have a weekend without a schedule or agenda. We knew we were doing a spa day at Miraval, but besides our treatments, we decided to go into it and just wing it depending on how we were feeling. It was so relaxing, and a much-needed refill on a cup that’s been feeling a little spent lately. 

I have SO much to tell you about Miraval (and I’ll also compare it to Canyon Ranch) but it needs its own post, because otherwise this one will be TLDR. We spent the entire day at Miraval on Saturday (from about 8:30am until 7pm) and then went straight to Commoner & Co. for dinner and drinks.

This is random, but Kyle got me into bourbon cocktails. This one had vanilla and orange, and it was so smoky, slightly sweet, and delicious. 

For my entree, I got the salmon from their new menu, which has kale chips and a mushroom risotto. It was perfect, as always. Even if I didn’t know Kyle (or be his kinda-twin), Commoner would still easily be my favorite dinner and date night spot in Tucson. 

After we were totally full from a fantastic dinner, and refreshed from a full day at Miraval, we went back to the hotel for 9 1/2 GLORIOUS hours of sleep. When we woke up, my mom was already heading to the zoo with the girls, so we met Everly and Meg for crepes at the farmer’s market.

(This is the Breakfast 2.0 with no cheese on a gluten-free crepe. It has eggs, guacamole, green chilies, and salsa. Basically this is my ideal breakfast and I could eat it every single day.)

We walked around the market for a bit, and then it was time for Betsy to head home! 

It was such an amazing weekend and the perfect ending to my week of bday celebrating. After I took the girls to swim, P crashed on the couch while Liv and I decorated for Christmas. It feels so festive around here, and I’m really excited for the next couple of months. <3 

I’d love to hear about your weekend! Do you ever do getaways with your best friends? Where’s your favorite place to go? I still want to head back to Palm Springs one day- our girls’ trip there was a blast.

Have a happy Monday.

xoxo

Gina

PS. Guess what?! 

This week, I am thrilled to celebrate Thanksgiving by offering daily deals on my brand new Fit Guide workouts — it’s my way of saying thanks to you for your love and support, and to help empower and inspire you to get and stay fit as we wrap up 2018!

Each of my Fit Guides includes 12 weeks of workouts, plus a workout calendar, a suggested meal plan and special bonuses. And if you aren’t sure which one is right for you, you can take a free, fun personality quiz to find out which Fit Guide I think is best for you:

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Now, here’s today’s daily deal:

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Please remember that this is ONLY available for 24 hours! This coupon is only valid on the Home Workout Warrior Fit Guide, and expires at 9amPT on Tuesday, November 20. 

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