Plans for this weekend include quality time with my father-in-law and friends and hopefully some fun in the sun. I’ll be sure to fill you in on the shenanigans on Monday but until then, let’s dive into your weekly Things I’m Loving Friday blog post and chat a little bit about the things that are making us smile this week. Please feel free to tell me about one thing you are loving this week in the comments section of this post.
Have a wonderful weekend, my friends!
Things I’m Loving Friday
- Gumby Wars
Buckle up for a rather random story… When Ryan and I first moved into our house in North Carolina, he put these two goofy Gumby figurines on the counter in our master bathrooms as “décor.” As I think we can all agree, bathroom counter space is limited and, um, we’re in our 30s, so I vetoed Gumby and his horse friend and hid them far, far away. Well, months went by without Ryan noticing they were missing until one day, a month or so ago, I was brushing my teeth and THEY WERE BACK. Noooooo!
I immediately hid them again and thought I was in the clear until earlier this week I found Gumby doing the splits, suspended between our toothbrush older and a bottle of soap. It made me laugh out loud, and now we have a sort of Gumby Wars going on in our bathroom as we hide Gumby and place him in various positions around the room.
I also lost the power to ban Gumby for eternity when I told Ryan the two figurines could stay if he could tell me the name of Gumby’s horse within five minutes (no Googling allowed) and, three minutes in, the name occurred to him. So now Gumby and Pokey stare at me every day.
- KILLER Stack Workout
(Pic from BBC Facebook page)
You guys this workout almost killed me. On Thursday morning, I went through this bodyweight only stack workout with some of my girlfriends at Burn Boot Camp and we were all SO ridiculously sweaty at the end. It was hard – both mentally and physically – but I felt amazing all day long after such a challenging morning workout. Keep this one in your back pocket for days when you don’t have any equipment and want to take yourself through a tough bodyweight-only total body workout.
And if you’re not familiar with the way a stack workout works, you perform the first exercise before moving onto the second. Then, you go back to the top and perform the first, second and third exercise. Go back to the top again and perform the first, second, third and fourth exercise… and so on and so on until you make it to the bottom. So, yes, you will be doing a bazillion lunge knee drives. I told you it’s a killer!
- Pool Play Dates
Now that summer is in full swing, the pool is my favorite location for afternoon play dates with my girlfriends and our little ones. It feels great to be outside without sweating to death and there’s something about splashing around in the sun that tires Chase out and usually results in a pretty stellar afternoon nap following pool playtime. Plus, the babies all look so darn cute in their swimsuits, hats and floaties!
I have an addiction to the lululemon cool racerback tank. You guys, I just can’t stop with this one! I absolutely love this tank and think it’s one of the best workout tops out there. It’s long (a necessity for my long torso), stays put during a plyometric workout (hooray for no re-adjusting during burpees) and is flattering and sweat-wicking. It may just be my favorite workout top in all the land. I already own it in a small assortment of colors and yet I cannot stop eyeing the cape red and pistachio colors. Someone stop meeee!
- Food Prep Ebook from Lindsay Livingston, RD
I’m always happy to help spread the word when one of my blogging friends launches a passion project and Lindsay’s first ebook is amazing! I had the chance to check it out a month or so ago before it was officially on sale and it’s so clear to see that she poured a ton of time and energy into this wonderful resource.
Lindsay is a registered dietitian and the queen of food prep! She’s been sharing food prep tips and recaps on her blog forever and compiled her experience and healthy living knowledge into one place for those interested in streamlining healthy eating and prepping meals for the week ahead. The Ultimate Guide to Food Prep ebook is only $14.99 and full of great tips and tricks from someone who seriously knows her stuff!
- Orange Geek (Website Hosting)
I’m sharing this one for any bloggers or people out there who run a website… If that’s not you this will probably be super boring, so you may want to skip down to the next bullet point!
Hooray for a new website host!!! After almost five great years with my previous host, within the past few months, my blog crashed numerous times – one weekend it was down nearly 6 times in 48 hours – and it’s been a serious headache. The service was only reactive (never proactive) and my blog would be down until I contacted the company to get it up and running again. Apparently the company was purchased by a larger corporation and the changes I’ve seen haven’t been positive to say the least, so I started shopping around and am already soooo much happier with Orange Geek!
Orange Geek was able to transfer my blog to their server (they do this for free!) and so far everything has been incredibly smooth. Orange Geek was highly recommended to me by several blogging friends and I am already feeling a sense of relief to have a host I can depend on again.
If you are a blogger looking for a host, I highly recommend Orange Geek! I paid for the service myself but reached out to them about offering you guys a discount and they’ll take 10 percent off any order with the code pbfingers. (I will get a small kickback if you use my code and I hope you are as happy with Orange Geek as I am so far!) And just FYI for my fellow bloggers, website hosting is one of my biggest blog-related expenses every year and I’m happy to report that Orange Geek is almost $1k cheaper per year for me compared to what I was previously paying, so it might be worth checking out if you are looking for a more affordable and reliable host!
- Friday Flashbacks
Healthy Breakfast Sweet Potatoes (Perfect for Sunday food prep, these potatoes taste great with eggs for breakfast or burgers for a healthy dinnertime side dish.)
Upper Body Cardio Workout (One of my all-time favorites! A seriously sweaty upper body burner!)
- Around the Web
Food: Vegan Peanut Butter Black Bean Brownies // Pistachio Almond Banana Ice Cream // Whole Wheat Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins
Fitness: 30 Minute Kettlebell Workout // 12 Minute Full Body Tabata Workout // Total Body Barre Burner
Stellar Sales: Adidas + Too Faced Cosmetics + Yumi Kim (<— my favorite rompers!) on HauteLook
Question of the Day
- What is one thing you are loving this week?
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Oh gosh, Gumby and Pokey. I really like that story. My fiancé and I do something similar with these silly little plastic frogs. We arrange them in random places and it always surprises/makes the other one laugh. So cute.
https://thedogtribe.com/2016/07/08/easy-dinner-czech-meatball-dish/
That Boot Camp workout looks amazing! I was wondering how/when do they demo the exercises in the workout? Do you warm up first and they go through it and you practice it, do you just watch as the instructor goes? I just started a Boot Camp at my swim club and I need all the advice I can get! Thanks!!
We did a brief warm up (5 min or so) before the instructor demonstrated all of the exercises and then we ran through it at our own pace!
Your story of Gumby and Pokey reminds me of Tina (carrotsncake.com) and her husband Mal. They have a similar thing with a plastic skull and it is hilarious. Sometimes it really is the simplest things 🙂
Enjoy your weekend!
Hahaha! I love the Gumby wars. And I’m so glad he remembered the name of the horse! The whole time I was reading I was thinking “I knew that name…what was it?” Lol! Have a great weekend yall.
I am equally obsessed with the Lulu tanks! Everyone wears the trendy, cute ones, but these are my favorites for their fit and fabric.
thank you, friend! i switched to orange geek about 6 months ago and also LOVE it!
Loving time spent switch family and peanut butter pretzels!
I love the Gumby wars story – I remember when you told us about hiding him the first time! Too funny!
Thanks so much for sharing my kettlebell workout! Have an awesome weekend Julie 🙂
I cracked up at Gumby/Pokey wars because we did the same thing. Some hipster restaurant gave us toys with our meal, a spider and scorpion I think. For a year we had them show up randomly, including him having my mom slip it in my bday card from her last minute and when I opened it we both laughed hysterically. Everyone else thought we were nerds…I was 36 so…yeah. Getting older is mandatory, growing up is optional.
Laughing at the Gumby Wars. We have a few funny little things going on like that at our house — mostly the little letter magnets on our fridge and writing things out. And YAY for a new host. You will sleep better at night with something more reliable. Enjoy the weekend, Julie! 🙂
Sounds like the Gumbi wars are fun. One of my old roommates and I used to hide a big teddy bear shaped tub that animal cookies came in. One time I found it in the shower. It’s a goof thing I saw it before I turned on the water.
I’m a blogger too and hosting is such an important part of having a blog.
I love the gumby wars story! Too cute!
I recently bought one of those Lululemon razorback tanks in black and am LOVING it! So jealous you have it in like ever color! And that stack workout sounds so tough, so many burpees, ahhh!
So I have a lululemon giftcard burning a hole in my pocket and maybe I’ll look into those tank tops!!! I got this gift card last year for my birthday before my family knew I was pregnant so I’ve been putting off buying anything! Love the Gumby story, hilarious!
Thanks for the stack workout. Never done one and I’m sure I’ll be on the floor by the end.
Hope you like it!! It was a killer!
Love your post! Those tanks look amazing! I need to get my hands on one of those 🙂
Something I’m loving this week? Baby T is officially head down and I couldn’t be happier! Yeah for a cooperative baby… So far 😉
Gumby wars – so cute! It’s always nice to have a thing like that. Definitely loving fresh watermelon and other fruits lately to rehydrate sweetly with all the heat 🙂
Oh my gosh, I am dying at the Gumby story!!! My husband does the same thing with small toys that are not decor. too funny!! Enjoy your weekend with your father-in-law!
I love those Lululemon tops too! I’m pretty sure they also hem them for free if you don’t like them quite so long.
Thanks for sharing the workout! I’m definitely going to use this “stack method” at the bootcamp classes that I’m teaching. The one thing I’m loving this week is moving to a new place!
Hope your classes like it, Kersten! <3
Wow I totally forgot about Gumby! That’s so funny–my husband and i had a war going on with a picture of my niece. One morning her little face popped out at me from the egg carton!
This week I’m loving the fact that I had off and was able to unplug and disconnect for days at a time.
Lulu Racerback = I cannot live without.
I actually have the black (which I have 4 of) on right now as I sit at Starbucks and catch up on my blog reading 🙂 🙂
The Gumby wars story had me laughing out loud- that’s hilariously amazing. It’s the little things like that! Great rec on the new hosting website- I have been sniffing around for a potential new host, and I like this sound of Orange Geek. Thanks, Julie!!
They’re awesome!!! Hope you are happy with them if you decide to make the switch!
Hi Julie! I’m going to have to check out those tank tops – I’ll be honest in saying I still wear my maternity ones from Old Navy around the house because of the longer torso!
Do you have any recommendations for shirts (blouses, casual, etc) for a long torso? I constantly find myself frustrated when finding a shirt I LOVE but then I try it and it’s way too short.
Thanks! 🙂
What size do you wear in the lululemon tank? Does it run small?
I feel like their stuff definitely runs a size or two small. I have the tank in both size 4 and 6.
I’m obsessed with lululemon pants all over again. It’s been an expensive few weeks!
Those are my favorite tanks from Lulu. I buy them all on Mercari for like $20!
I’ve never heard of Mercari! Time to investigate…
Oh it’ll change your life. It’s like Poshmark (if you’ve heard of it), but they don’t charge seller fees so many people list their items for less on Mercari. I get almost all of my workout clothes on there. If you get the app and use the code RDTFCD, you get $2 (and so do I). It’s not much, but it’s something! Let me know if you like it. I’m a little obsessed…
Just downloaded the app and used your code! Thanks for the info, Erin!! <3
Those Gumby and Pokey (<- wouldn't know his name either! haha) figurines. Hilarious. Also, I need to try these lulu tanks … or, maybe I should just pretend they don't exist because I WOULD get every color. Enjoy the weekend!
I think your Gumby Wars story is one of the best things I’ve heard all week! <3
The Pistacio CRB just got marked down! Go treat yourself!
Ah! *pistachio 🙂
I was laughing so hard at the Gumby war! Seriously made my day!!
The lululemon Power Y tanks are my absolute fav, but I’ll have to try these. Not that I need another lulu addiction. Oh and I love the gumby story. Definitely sounds like something my husband and I would do!
I attended a teaching workshop that gave us those same Gumby & Pokey figurines to remind us to always be ‘flexible,’ & I had a first grader who was obsessed with them! She would grab them from my desk & play with them making them ‘talk.’ I started putting them all over my classroom in various spots & she would love it!
I am a lululemon girl all the way. Great tops.
LOL! Marriage is supposed to be fun…no matter how old we get right?! 🙂 My husband wears star wars shoes and t-shirts to match my 3 year old son…that inner childless makes them amazing daddies! 🙂
I’ve also been loving breakfast sweet potatoes too! If they’re dusted with cinnamon, turmeric, maca and almond butter, then they taste even more AMAZING!
I seriously read this post two days after I switched hosting services, too! I bet we switched away from the same one :). I went with SiteGround because I hadn’t even heard of Orange Geek. I’m so glad they are working well for you!!
I also completely agree with baby pool dates. Seriously the best! My girl is three and they are still my favorite thing…well, maybe the ocean is my favorite, but the pool is a close second :).
I’m having a very busy time of it lately, so I’m going back and reading this last week’s post – I always enjoy Friday’s post! And I’m so happy you talked about orange geek, I was looking for a better hosting company (I don’t have a blog, but I’m very interested in blogging tech. I’ve used Fat Cow, and I do love their customer service, but I’m liking the prices at Orange geek).
Excited to check out the e-book, too. Btw, just wanted to throw out a thing *I* Have been loving recently, and it’s the show, “The Fall”, on Netflix! Me and my husband cruised through it so quickly, and I highly recommend it! Very suspenseful. And you don’t need subtitles, but I enjoyed watching with them to help learn all the characters names faster, and keep track of major plot points (it’s mystery/suspense). Happy already-almost-Friday again!