Two Things Tuesday

i’ve been such a blog slacker lately. i wish i had a great excuse, or some super attractive reason to give you…like, ya know, a novel in the works or a great tale about climbing a super hard mountain upstate or stumbling into my dream job of becoming a travel writer and living out of a suitcase…buuuuut i don’t. what i have been doing is much of what i always do lately — work-clients-run-gym-sleep-red wine-Scandal-see friends when possible — with some online Christmas shopping (i’m proud to say i’m so ahead of the game this year!) and city-traipsing speckled in there. life is busy, i know we all get that, but busy can be so good!

so, let’s talk two good things from my weekend, shall we??

ONE: my BFF & baby Henry visiting NYC. this was such a treat to have them down for the day on Sunday, and we had an absolute blast walking all around the city and having a much-needed girls’ day. life is just so much better when your best friend is around!

oh, and this little guy just melted my heart… especially now that he actually knows me & loves me and says “Nawna” nonstop and blows me kisses. i tried to teach him to say “selfie” (this is what happens when his mom goes into a bakery and leaves him alone with me, we have a really important vocabulary lesson) but he just kept pointing at the phone and saying “Nawna,” so i considered that a success, too.blue eyes & tired faces unite!

TWO: Skoop Ignite Beet Blend

Skoop was kind enough to send me some of their products last year, which i really enjoyed, so i was glad when they reached out and asked if i’d be interested in trying their new Ignite Beet Blend pre-workout product, designed to improve endurance, resilience and energy. i love beets. i naturally gravitate toward any juice that has beets in it (who doesn’t love peeing pink??). i also can always use a little pre-run energy boost, since i hate to eat before runs and usually just drink coffee, so i had a good feeling about this product and all of its organic goodness.
the product: Healthy Skoop’s Ignite Performance Beet Blend — or what they like to call #BeetMode — is a pre-exercise boost for optimal athletic performance, geared at increasing cardiac efficiency & reducing recovery times. they use organic beets, which naturally contain nitrates that help oxygen-rich blood reach your muscles faster. it’s meant to improve your performance and not to be used as a post-workout drink. you just add a skoop of the blend to 8-10 oz of water, shake away, and drink 15-30 minutes before working out or running. 

verdict: i really like it and can see myself using this on the regular. i just tried it for the first time on Saturday before my 11-miler, and it was great. i liked the taste a lot, and it definitely gave me the little boost i was hoping for (without the weird caffeine headiness i sometimes get from coffee before running). it was nice & light without being too sweet or sugary. basically, it was exactly what i was hoping for. i’m going to start using it on the regular to see if it continues to serve as a pick-me-up (i never know if i’m just assuming it’s working because i want it to, ya know? does anyone else have that issue??), but i had a great first impression of it and am a Skoop fan.

nutrition with a mission: another reason i really like this company is because of their mission to make plant-based nutrition convenient and accessible to everyone and have teamed up with a non-profit to create Project Produce, an initiative to provide grants for fresh fruits & veggies to schools around the country. Skoop donates 3% of their sales to Project Produce and is hoping to increase their footprint in education and reach as many kids as possible with the hope of fighting childhood obesity and encouraging schools to offer healthier choices.

i can certainly get behind that. although i like their products anyway, i really love to see the ways in which companies use their resources for the greater good of humanity and would prefer to support organizations with this mindset. nicely done, Skoop. 🙂

Anyone else use their products?
What pre-workout products do you prefer?