Happy June friends!

I’m writing this as a close to my summer break.  Many of you are probably thinking “a CLOSE to your summer break?  Didn’t summer just get started?” This is MY end of summer break because next week I begin coursework in preparation for my Dietetic Internship.  I have no idea what to expect, but I am SO excited to get into it all.  Things may be a bit more quite around here over the next month, but I will promise to post on Instagram stories and pop in around here a few times.

For now, I’m sharing all of the wonderful things about May.  I hope you all had a fantastic May, and here’s to an awesome June!

Products/Services I am Loving:

• Fluffy Puppy Pet Sitting and Dog Walking

I met Melinda while walking Bernie and Rooney a couple of months ago, and have seen her a few times while out and walking the dogs since then.  There have been a couple of instances where I have not been home as much as usual and we hired Melinda to come walk Bernie and Rooney.  She has exceeded far beyond our expectations!  Each time, she sends us a picture and a little update about the pups, she works with several vizslas in the neighborhood (so she understands the breed) and she truly has a love for dogs.  I am so thankful we found her!

If you are in the Broad Ripple/Meridian Kessler area of Indianapolis, I highly recommend Fluffy Puppy Pet Sitting 🙂

Foods I am Loving:

• Colorful Salads

• Meals outside.  The weather has been pretty great recently, so we are eating outside as.much.as.possible!
• Bread from the Farmer’s Market

Lately Brian and I have been LOVING the Country Bread from Amelia’s Bakery and the sourdough from Native Bread.  Seriously both SO good!

• Vietnamese Lemongrass Chicken Bowl

This is a recipe from last year, and I forgot how good it is!! The flavors are so fresh and delish!

• Smoothies and smoothie bowls are making a comeback due to the warm weather and I am SO loving it.

• Coat Check Coffee AND Open Society cashew milk lattes

I will always love Open Society’s cashew milk latte, but Brian and I recently tried a new Indianapolis coffee spot…Coat Check Coffee.  Also delish!  I just got the plain housemade cashew milk latte, but Brian enjoyed a butterscotch latte (their signature drink) and I had a sip.  It was so good! They don’t use a butterscotch syrup, they use spices and a burnt orange peel to get a super unique but yummy flavor.

Moments I am Loving:

• Farmers Market with Brian and the pups

• Kings Island

Last Friday, Brian and I went to Kings Island amusement park and had an absolute blast.  Here are some tips if you plan on going!

*pack a lunch and keep it in a cooler in the car – the park gives pass outs, so you can come and go as you please!

*arrive as the park opens at 10am.  the line to get in continued to get longer into the afternoon, but it was pretty quick first thing in the morning.

*most rides have a box for you to keep a small bag/backpack in EXCEPT the new Mystic Timbers ride.

*the fast lane pass is SO worth it.  we rarely waited in any line and were able to ride every single ride we wanted to.

• Hiking at McCormick’s Creek

This was a great area to explore with the pups.  We chose Trail 5 because it was the longest (2 miles) and there were a few water stops along the way.  Our pups love the water, so it was really fun to stop and play with them as we hiked along.

• Preparing to redo part of our kitchen

While we adore our new house, it’s not perfect.  We bought it knowing that we would need to update the kitchen by making it more open to the entire house.  Right now, we pretty much live in the back of the house and rarely go into the living and dining room.  I guess we are used to apartment living and don’t need much space.  The plan is to remove a wall, reconfigure some appliances, build a peninsula, get new counter tops, and add a backsplash.  While it’s fun to pick out items for the kitchen, it’s also a little overwhelming!

Above is the backsplash we are interested in, but next week we are meeting with someone to solidify the esthetic design plans 🙂 I hope she likes everything I have picked so far.

• Planting our Garden

We have a few cherry tomatoes popping up, but so far that is it for the garden.  I’m really trying to water it when it doesn’t rain and pay close attention to how things are going.  I’ve been known to have a black thumb!

• Brian’s 30th Birthday party

We had such a wonderful time celebrating Brian’s 30th birthday at the start of this month.  It’s fun to look back at the pictures 🙂

Workouts I am Loving:

• Family runs

Brian and I have signed up for the Firecracker 6 4th of July 6 mile race, so we are running together in the evenings to build up our mileage!  While I really prefer morning workouts, I love the family time and can’t wait for Rooney to be old enough to join us.

• Evening long walks

When we aren’t running in the evening, Brian and I take the pups on long walks in the evenings.  I absolutely love this time.  After dinner walks have always been a favorite of mine, but Brian and I are doing them much more regularly here in Indiana and I am trying to soak up every second of them.

• SWIFT

I have absolutely been loving these boot camp style workouts.  They are always challenging in different ways, incorporate a very thorough warm-up, and plenty of time for stretching afterward.  It’s a great compliment to my running right now!

• Working with Myo-Fit Mobility & Therapy

Lately, I have been really bad IT band tightness issues and pain in the bottom of one of my feet.  I decided it was time to cut back mileage on running to a max of about 10 miles a week, and seek out some manual therapy.  Myo-Fit was literally exactly what I needed.  I saw one of the trainers for a free consultation, and from there I have been seeing her the past 3 weeks.  She does a lot of manual therapy, but also gives a ton of homework (stretching, foam rolling, lacrosse ball use, exercises to build strength and neuromuscular connection) and it is working!! My knee no longer hurts from my tight IT band (and weak glutes), and we are working on my foot (but it has gotten better!).

Thank you Myo-Fit for helping me to feel more powerful in my workouts and run without discomfort 🙂

 Question of the Day:

• Share moments from your highlight reel below!