Who Forgot To Mention Hot Yoga Is Hot

Can I just speak to how much I love you all?  Honestly, I knew I missed you but the response I have gotten has brought me darn near tears multiple times since posting yesterday.  YOU ARE AMAZING! 🙂

For any of you who haven’t spent much time in Denver, I’m going to let you in on a little secret.  Denver is Sunny.

Nine days out of 10, you’re going to have the sun shining for a good chunk of your afternoon.

 Yesterday was NOT a Sunny Denver Day.

Yup, July 30th and I was wearing a sweater and long pants yesterday.  No wonder everyone is struggling with the beloved Summer colds.  Whomp whomp.

It rained relentlessly morning, afternoon and night.  Monsoon rain, with cloud overhang that I’m used to seeing in the Midwest, not Colorado.   It was the topic of conversation for everyone at work and out and about.  Us Coloradan’s aren’t used to weather like this!

Make The Best Of It

All I wanted to do yesterday was crawl back in bed and curl up with a good book.  I had running on the agenda, but in the end, I was inspired by something much more weather friendly.  Hey, a hot room sounded PERFECT.

Workout 

I made it back to Core Power Yoga for the first time since moving to Denver, and let me tell you.  All my instagram followers, you forgot to tell or remind me how challenging these classes are. I was DRIPPING buckets midway through class.  Talk about a detox.

There is nothing like the post run endorphin high, but man that class felt good.  60 minutes of a C2 class had this lady smilin ear to ear, and ready to EAT!

Good Eats

My gut has been all kinds of cranky this past week, so I’ve been drinking tons of juices and smoothies to get me through the mornings/afternoons.  And yesterday was one of those days.

At least they’re delicious!

My eats during the day have been mostly liquid to appease my gut, but dinners are still chewable ;).  And healthy!

Yesterday’s dinner started off with a cucumber, squash and tomato salad dressed simply with olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper and fresh basil.  YUM!

Zach and I ran out of greens earlier in the week and stumbled upon this meal.  No real recipe, we just used the mandolin slicer to pickle slice the veggies (one small cucumber and one small squash), added a few fresh tomatoes from the garden, and threw enough dressing to cover the mix.  I recommend letting it sit in the fridge and marinate a bit if possible, but trust me it’s fresh either way!

Also on the menu were homemade grilled falafel burgers and a side of Trader Joe’s pretzel bread.

All together now!

With a side of kambucha to wash it all down 🙂

Fresh, healthy and delicious!  Let me know if you guys are interested in the falafel recipe, I’d be happy to share!

Zach and I spent the rest of the evening finishing up the final season of Dexter (we gave up cable and got Netflix.  Best.Decision.Ever).

I may or may not have enjoyed a Whole Foods vegan cookie and a glass of wine while we waited up for Zach’s mom and sister to make it into Denver.

That’s right!  Family in town for the weekend!  We’re heading up to Breckenridge tomorrow afternoon to enjoy my favorite part of Colorado in the Summer!  Let’s hope the weather straightens it’s act up.

I leave you with a picture of our very happy furball.  We bought her a new scratch pad which she became attached to IMMEDIATELY.   We may or may not have entertained ourselves for a little while watching her go crazy on some cat nip.  Don’t judge.  It was one AM and we were all slap happy!

Have you ever done hot yoga?  Did you sweat yourself off your mat?

Falafel recipe?

Tips for an angry gut?

Plans for the weekend?

Remember Me?

Long time no chat, right?

Remember me?  I was that blogger many, many moons ago who was obsessed with all things running and chocolate.

Welp, guess what?

I’m back and still love all things running and chocolate 🙂

Where  Have I Been?

Well that’s kind of a long story.  But if we want to cliff notes it here

Zach and I bought a home

did a LOT of work on said home (thank you Dad Jara 🙂

Have settled in quite nicely to the new home

And are absolutely loving being home owners :).

At the time that I started my “blog break,” we had just begun looking into moving.  At that point, we still thought we may rent, but come to find out renting is not cheap.  So, on came house hunting.

With the house hunt going full steam ahead, I also started looking into some other major “ashley” changes.   Let’s just say there are other big announcements to be made in the near future, so I hope to keep coming back!

Anyway, because of all these changes, I started to feel overwhelmed.  Blogging became something I felt I had to do versus what it had always been, something I LOVED doing.  I was also really frustrated with some things going on in my day-to-day (nothing to do with family or my hubby, there both amazing.  and I PROMISE I will share more with you all soon…sorry for the cliff hanger), so because of that, I choose to work on me.  Make the necessary changes in my life that required time and focus, always with the hope that I’d come back, refreshed and excited.  Welp, those changes are in motion and I’m back 🙂

What Will Chocolate Medals Be Now? 

I missed you guys.  I missed writing and connecting with you all.  First and foremost I fell in love with my friends and blogging family, and I am MOST excited to jump back into that world.  I hope you all know that I continued to read your blogs, but just needed to shift my focus for a little while.

I am happy to report that while there continues to be huge change in the Jara household, all things are GOOD.  When I left, things were in a tough spot and I needed to focus on ME and getting myself to where I needed to be.  Well, I guess I did something right because guys, I think I’ve found that place and cannot WAIT to share this next part of my journey with you all.

Not All Things Have Changed

Sure, there’s been lots of celebrating change around here

Lots.

But some things have NOT changed.

it was national ice cream day, I had to. At 10 PM. Yup.

I am still running, biking, strength training, and loving every second of it.

Still eating lots of colorful, mostly healthy grub

And even have a fun, new-to-me running experience coming up this Summer!

So Where do I see my beloved Chocolate Medals?   Well, I just renewed my little space on the interwebs and plan to find that new balance of personal life, work, exercise/activity and fun.   I cannot WAIT to share these next steps with you all!

I hope you all will jump back on the journey with me cause I’M BACK! 🙂