As a Type A personality, though I may appear calm and relaxed on the outside, my mind is usually a constant whirlwind of thoughts, wants, ambitions… that godforsaken to-do list and must-accomplish-by-this-age list.

Recently, I have been having trouble finding balance in my life. I have neglected writing on this blog and keeping up with reading your blog posts on my Google reader. When I start neglecting this blog, that only means that things at dotdot have been keeping me busy. And boy have I been busy, with launching Imperial Fez’s website, working on Sprig Restaurant’s marketing collateral & photography and branding a new mobile yoga studio business.

All very exciting stuff, but I have missed writing and photographing for this blog dearly.

I need to find balance in my life.

Enter yoga.

Yoga is something that I need. Not only to prevent injury, but to also give myself the time to center my thoughts and calm my mind.

And to bribe myself into going to more yoga classes? I got myself a snazzy new yoga bag.

I have been lusting over this lululemon tote ever since Alison posted about it on her blog. Being the frugal person that I can be (especially when I don’t need something), I held off buying the tote since it was a bit pricey and I already have a gym bag that I was okay with. But, earlier this month I saw that the tote was on sale so I snagged one.

I’m in love already. It fits all of my yoga clothes, swimsuit and gym shoes… and my laptop. Heck yeah! If a bag can fit my laptop, it’s pretty much a winner in my book.

After a yoga class, refueling is a must. And since I have been on a smoothie streak, I’m continuing it with a Green Tea Coconut drink this week.

Matcha powder, have you heard of it? It’s this expensive Japanese green tea powder that is packed with antioxidants. It exceeds green tea in nutrients because instead of brewing the green leaf, you are ingesting it.

And if you’re like me, I prefer cold drinks especially after a workout. So, here is a quick cold matcha drink recipe that you can whip up in about 3 minutes.

Green Tea Coconut Drink (serves 2)
1 1/2 cups Coconut Dream drink
2 tsp matcha green tea powder
1 banana
1 tbsp agave nectar (more if you like your drink sweeter)
4 – 5 ice cubes

Instructions:
Blend all ingredients in a blender, then serve and enjoy!

The weather has finally turned cold, then warm, then cold again.

Oh the perks of living in Georgia.

Thankfully, I joined a gym back in December, complete with whirlpools, steam rooms, sauna and spa. Not to mention the complete yoga and Pilates studios. Who am I kidding? I joined a resort.

In spite of all of this, some days it’s tough to get myself out and to the gym. Winter workouts that have been inspiring me to get my booty to the gym lately.

1. Kickboxing – There is no better way for me to workout my stress (and burn some major calories) than with kickboxing. With my current tendonitis (aggravated by our recent car accident), not having pressure on my hands has been great. Not to mention the great music and always energetic instructors.

Note to self: I need to figure out how these ladies constantly have this much energy.

PSA: If you don’t look where you are kicking when doing a back kick, you look like an ass donkey.

2. Swimming – A good swim does wonders for my cardio and stress level. I am a total water baby and just love being in the water. Plus, swimming is really great for cross training, and my favorite way to work on strengthening muscles.

3. Cycling – Have really only been to one spinning class… because I can’t hoist myself up on a hurt wrist. But working out on the stationary bikes has been great for me, especially if I do a swim first and then head into the fitness area for a 30-40 min session of stationary cycling.

4. Yoga – For the Type A part of my personality, making myself go to a yoga class, calm down and center myself is a challenge. I would much rather be in a martial arts class, swimming in the pool or riding away on the bike. However, balance is important in fitness, as well as flexibility, so off to yoga classes I go.

Replenishing your body after a workout with nutrients and protein is just as important as the workout itself. A great smoothie usually hits the spot.

And this particular one may be my new favorite post workout smoothie. It contains clementines, bananas and ginger – a wonderful winter combination that also reminds me of the beach.

Citrus Ginger Smoothie (1 serving)
2 clementines, peeled and divided into sections
1 banana
1/4″ piece of fresh ginger, skin removed
1/3 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
1 tsp agave nectar
4-5 ice cubes

Instructions:
Blend all ingredients in a blender, pour into a glass and enjoy immediately.

Coming to you from Colorado today!

The view out of our hotel room in Colorado Springs.

Paul and I are out here in the Denver/Boulder area for the week. Boulder has been on my must-visit list for a while now, and when I saw that Jen Yu (use real butter) was putting together another Food & Light photography workshop, I jumped at the chance of not only getting to finally visit this beautiful part of the country, but also learn food photography & styling from some amazing photographers.

The workshop doesn’t start until Tuesday morning, so we’re going to be enjoying being tourists in Colorado for a few days. Yesterday we had a few hours to kill before checking into the hotel so we found a cute little paint your own ceramic shop. At Paul’s (fantastic) suggestion, I chose to paint a teacup and saucer.

Check it out! A Dash of East tea cup – for real!

The teacup and saucer still needed to be glazed and fired so I’ll be posting photos of the finished product (hopefully) in a week or so when it’s ready.
Update: the teacup and saucer arrived, check out the final product!

We’re about to head out this morning for some white water rafting and ziplining. Bring on the Class 4 and 5 rapids! I’m ready!

Before we  jetted off to Colorado, I made a lemonade from this recipe by Todd and Diane of White on Rice (with a few of my changes – minus the corn syrup in making the simple syrup and then I added fresh blueberries in the lemonade prior to serving), who will be teaching at the Food & Light photography workshop.

Have you taken any fun trips this summer? Paul and I will be traveling around the Denver area for the next week, starting off in Colorado Springs, then driving up to Rocky Mountain National Park, down to Boulder and then back to Denver. I’m practically giddy with joy!

As happy as I am to be on vacation, I prefer being near the ocean than being in the mountains.

This might have something to do with living in the Appalachian mountains for the first 18 years of my life and only visiting the beach once in those 18 years. Seriously.

Which do you prefer? Mountains or Oceans?

But, I’m not going to complain too much, it is beautiful out here! Have a wonderful weekend! I know I will!

“Make sure to get your protein in after your workout.” I keep hearing trainers say this, and I know the reasons: Protein speeds recovery after exercise by providing the amino acids needed to rebuild muscle tissue damaged during intense workout sessions.

I don’t know about you, but after a workout I’m usually too tired to figure out where to get some protein. I usually default to a protein shake, and those things (even if flavored with chocolate or vanilla) still taste like cardboard to me. Though, drinks are usually the best (I have found) way to get protein in after a workout because they’re easier to digest, compared to solid food, and easier to get into your body within that 30 minute post-workout window.

Today after my 7 mile run, I looked at my protein powder and decided that I need to add something to the cardboard tasting drink. A banana and a few strawberries it was! And I must say, this smoothie may have been one of the best I’ve ever tasted, chocolate plus strawberries and add a little bit of banana. Oh yum!

Ah, sangria. It’s my can’t-live-without-it summer cocktail.

There are tons and tons of variations on sangria recipes. I think I might test out a white sangria recipe later on this summer, but today (since we are having our dear friends, Esther and Jacob, from Esther JuLee Photography over for dinner), I decided to make a red sangria since I wanted to make use of the great POM Wonderful pomegranate juice, that I received as a gift from POM!

Ingredients
- 1 bottle red wine
- 2 cups POM Wonderful pomegranate juice
- 3/4 cup brandy
- 1/4 cup simple syrup (equal amounts sugar and water)
- 1 small orange, halved and thinly sliced
- 1 green apple, cored, halved and thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup red grapes, sliced in half
- 2 cups ginger ale

Tasty sangria ingredients!  If you notice, the bottle of brandy is more than half used.. I love using brandy when making chocolate fondue, mmm… delish!

Midway through making the sangria, I realized that I forgot to include the POM Wonderful pomegranate juice in the group photo… silly me!… this was after I had already prepped the fruits. So, take two:

Let’s Mix!
1. Heat up 1/4 cup water and when it comes close to a boil, add 1/4 cup sugar. Stir the mixture until the sugar dissolves, then turn heat off and set the mixture aside.
2. Add the fruit to an empty pitcher, then combine all of the rest of the ingredients, except for the ginger ale.
3. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
4. Just before serving, add the ginger ale and serve the sangria over ice!
5. Enjoy!