Dancing and Smoothies

I love to dance! Especially when I have the house to myself. I find a station on Pandora...anything from Black Eyed Peas to Kim Walker Jesus Culture....and I dance it up in the living room. I'll grab some weights and pretty much make up my own dance moves and aerobic routines...I know, are you imagining this crazy girl being silly shakin' it up...especially now that I'm pregnant. I can't do the same moves like I used to with my little bulging belly, but it's still a blast and I can get my heart rate going and even work up a little sweat. This is one of my favorte ways to keep in shape and build a little muscle. I combine stuff that I've learned over the years like yoga, pilates, max T3, ballet, and other stretches and just do what feels natural. It's totally fun and freeing! So far, my doggie Mahli has been the lucky one to admire my crazy dance moves. I think it's entertaining for her too. Sometimes she'll even join me and roll around and do her doggie stretches next to me! Although, she's not looking too thrilled in this photo. "Here she goes again", and "mommy sure is getting a belly"- she's probably thinking :D

What I think is so awesome about "dancng in the living room" is that my mom used to do this too, starting when she was a little girl. I think she made up dance routines to a lot of Broadway tunes. I didn't know this till recently! Like mother, like daughter!

After my dance and stretch session this morning, the only thing that sounded heavenly for breakfast was a smoothie. Guess what I had waiting for me in the fridge- a nice mango!! Here is my recipe for a healthy mango smoothie, something like this....I don't really measure much when making them....eventually you won't have to either, the more you make them, I promise :)

• 5-7 ice cubes
• handful of blueberries
• abut half banana (slice and freeze your banana's right before they get over-ripe, perfect for smoothie goodness
• peel and slice up your mango. Save some for later or snack on while your making your smoothie!
• almost 1 cup of almond milk, rice milk, water, or coconut milk
• sprinkle of cinnamon
• scoop of maca
• scoop of protien powder or green powder ( I actually didn't have this today but it would be delicious)
• you can also add a spoonful of plain greek yogurt if you have it for extra creaminess!
• I almost forgot-- handful of spinach! If you can get past the color of your smoothie, you will fall in love too! And it will fill you up! 

smoothie goodness

I have people ask me all the time..."what do you put in your smoothies??" So here is one for ya! I promise you, it doesn't sound good at first to most people. But it is delicious :)

• 6 ice cubes


• 1 cup of almond milk


• 4-5 small slices of banana


• 1/4 -1/2 cup of blueberries


• 2 T of hemp protein powder


• 1/2 scoop of vanilla protein powder


• 1 T of coconut oil


• 1 T of almond butter


• 1 T maca powder


• 1 T of ground flax seed


• dash of cinnamon

I know some of these ingredients may sound bizzare for some people. So if anyone actually tries to make this smoothie, let me know. I can tell you where you can find them and what you can subsitute with. If you don't have all of the ingredients, don't fret...just do the almond milk (or even just water is great too!) bananas, blueberries, ice, and cinnamon...if you're really brave throw in some romaine lettuce...you won't even know it's in there :)

I just made this today after my workout! I usually can get creative with them depending on what I can find in my cabinets and fridge. This one is one of my favs. I also love to add pineapple, cherries, strawberries, raspberries or mangos...in different combinations. And even romaine or spinach. I enjoy trying new things :D