Foodie Penpals #3

Three months ago I joined a monthly program called Foodie Penpals. Foodie Penpals was started by Lindsay over at The Lean Green Bean in September 2011. There are participants in the United States, Canada, and now even over in the UK!

This month I was assigned to send a box to Anna! I sent her Love Grown Granola, Luna and Think Thin bars, Tazo tea, and our family's steak rub recipe. Head over to her blog to see how she liked it!

My package this month is from Montel! She sent me all kinds of little goodies to try out!

Where to start? Lots of goodies in this package! In fact the box came while I was at work and I received a text from my fiance begging me to let him open it. He is really into this Foodie Penpal thing! He just texted me back, "This box is awesome!" So Montel you have the fiance's seal of approval! He has been all over the pickled cactus which I was reluctant to try but LOVE IT!


I haven't gotten around to using or trying everything because things have been a little hectic. I added the dried fruit to my Love Grown Simply Oats for a nice afternoon snack! And the Cranberry Cinnamon Flatbreads are great! I've had to work to keep everyone out of those! But the everything else - will definitely show up in some breakfast or dinner pictures soon! 


On a seperate life note - I rocked Insanity Pure Cardio Sunday night! Holy moly my calves are still sore! That is such an awesome workout, most people dread it and I love it! 

And here is a funny picture of Mr. Jasper for you! Kiwi turned 14yrs old this month and I think she is starting to feel her age. She does way more sleeping and cuddling, and less torturing her mommy.

Question:
Have you tried anything new lately?
Do you love a workout that most hate?


Eat clean, train hard, and inspire others!
-Kiwi && Me

Furry Friday & A Winner

I know you're dying to find out who gets to get their hands on some yummy Larabars but you're going to have to hold you're horses. First I want to just share a little.

Lately I have been slacking on my workouts, not because I want to but because I have had a killer headache almost daily. Well I finally figured out the cause: not enough water. They took away our water filter at work so I haven't been getting the liter or so a day that I had been drinking daily at my desk. Fail. But I picked up one of those bottles with a filter and this girl is back in business. Moral of this story: DRINK YOUR WATER PEOPLE. Soda, coffee, and lemonade do not count.


I HATE missing workouts. I have been doing little wods in my house though to keep me moving but I haven't been doing my regular 40 minutes to an hour. My abs and thighs apparently think the wods were tough.

Tomorrow is Logann's birthday, so we will be celebrating! I'm so excited, I just know I have to remember portions portions portions... But who can say no to birthday cake? That is rude right?


On a side note - I'm Camaro-less. Since she had minor flood damage, the insurance company is replacing the interior. But because the carpet is coming from MI it is going to be awhile. I just want to say that my rental is so slow its painful.   

Okay. I guess we can talk about who won the Larabar giveaway now. For some reasons the comments aren't showing on the orginal post but I do have them in my comment manager. I used Random.org to pick the winner... And voila!

So Laurel contact me and send me your information so I can get it sent to Larabar! I know you want some tasty bars! 


And last but not least - Jasper! He can touch his tongue to his nose! Kid is a nut.

Well I'm going to go watch the Olympics opening ceremony! It is supposed to be pretty awesome! And I hear they play a lot of Muse clips! {Muse ADDICT}


Eat clean, train hard, and inspire others!
-Kiwi&&Me

What I Ate Wednesday #11

Good morning! Its another WIAW post and I'm going to continue posting like I have the last few weeks. Instead of posting everything I had in one day, I'm posting all the things I ate this week that caught my eye! This girl likes variety! 

Since I spent most of last week sick {so I didn't eat much} and I didn't get to post my WIAW last week I am combining the two weeks into one post! 

----What WIAW isn't about----

Comparison - Judgement - Restriction - Guilt

----What WIAW is about----

Celebrating one of the glorious things we all have in common: We all eat!

"WIAW is about food and fun! It's about making new friends, breaking out of a food rut, noting changes in your diet/lifestyle, inspiring yourself & others, embracing fruit & vegetables, nourishing your body with the foods that work for you, finding new ways to eat your favorite foods, and so much more" 

<3-peas & crayons

sushi with the fiance: mine

his

peanut butter & chocolate froyo from orange leaf

pulled beef, trader joe's eggplant & zucchini, and sweet potato fries

scrambled eggs with trader joe's chicken sausage

check out my Larabar review and giveaway post here

chipotle burrito bowl, so good

pink berry chocolate mini cup

cafe express mini turkey sandwich, cup of turkey chili, and a spring salad

skinny taste sloppy joes & corn with quinoa

skinny taste santa fe chicken with some alterations

140 cal skinny cow, do you see an ice cream pattern here?

sometimes this girl just needs some chick-fil-a, grilled chicken nuggets with a fruit cup

skinny taste black bean chipotle bugers with homemade cole slaw, avocado's and sweet potato fries

even though my fiance thinks i have an addiction, he still takes me to starbucks to make me smile

iced skinny carmel macchiato

we tried a new froyo shop in town called chiller bee, officially my favorite. he got birthday cake and peanut butter while I got chocolate mixed with peanut butter. so tasty!

Now for the FITNESS!

These are just a few I recorded.

a short run i squeezed in before an hour of yoga

Question: 

What is the longest you've held a plank?

Eat clean, train hard, and inspire others!

Kiwi && Me

Larabar + a Giveaway!

Good evening my friends! Today we are going to talk about Larabar! A few weeks ago I got an email from Larabar about doing a review for all of my readers! And since I love Larabar I was pretty ecstatic to get this opportunity to share their products with you! I'm one of those "creatures of habit" kind of people though so once I found a flavor I loved, I never checked out the other flavors! So when asked if I had a preference I said surprise me! 

When the box came in the mail I was pretty excited! They sent Coconut Cream pie, Pecan Pie, Key Lime Pie and Chocolate Chip Cherry Torte! Is your mouth watering yet?

Not only did I try these bad boys but I shared them with the fiance after our workouts! So I tossed his opinions in here too! The Chocolate Chip Cherry Torte is great! If you like cherry you're going to love it! It has an after taste just like cherry pie! The Pecan Pie definitely has real pecans in it, and they are chunky! Chunky is good in my eyes! Its really good but it could be a little sweeter! But I still goobled the whole bar down in seconds!

The Key Lime Pie is a great mix of coconut and lime together! The lime isn't over powering which is sometimes a problem with key lime pie flavored foods! It is tasty and refreshing! And lastly the Coconut Cream Pie, the one the fiance wanted to get his hands on the most but I made him share!

The Coconut Cream Pie could use a little bit more coconut but it was not disappointing. The fiance and I really enjoyed this bar even thought it was more coconut then cream pie! It leaves a great refreshing coconut after taste! This bar is perfect after a long run in the sun!

The same day my Larabar package showed up I also got a package from Anna from Fit From the Inside Out which I won in a give away! It also came with some tasty Larabars! My favorite flavor Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip was in the mix! SO good! Its like desert in a bar!

The Cherry Cobbler is new to me because our local store doesn't carry the Larabar Uber bars. The cherry cobbler was the fiance's favorite because it was a great blend {peanuts, cherries, sea salt, & honey} of sweet and salty! The cherry's are sweet, and make this bar delicious! 

The Apple Turnover smells delicious when you open the package. It has cinnamon, dried apples, and raisins and all the flavors complement each other well! It is almost like Christmas in a bar!


I would recommend Larabar to anyone looking for a great snack, or post workout treat! They have healthy and clean ingredients, and they taste great! 


Now for the giveaway part of the post! I want to share Larabar with you! One of my readers is going to get a nice treat in the mail from Larabar and here is how to enter!


1. Like Kiwi Fit on Twitter or Facebook!
2. Tweet something similar to the following message - "I want to win some delicious bars from @Larabar & @KiwiFitBunny! Enter the giveaway at http://www.kiwifitblog.com/2012/07/larabar-giveaway.html"
3. Like Larabar on Twitter

Please leave me a comment for each one of the above that you completed! The latest you can enter is Thursday at midnight! A winner will be announced on Friday the 27th and selected at random by Random.org. 


Eat clean, train hard, and inspire others!
Kiwi & Me


The purpose of reviews is to offer my reading audience an objective opinion, so they can make an informed decision before buying based on quality, practicality, and value. I did not accept money to review the product. The only compensation is the use of the product during the review period. Winners will selected randomly using Random.org. All giveaway prizes will be shipped by the sponsor to the winner unless otherwise noted. The winner’s information will be forwarded to the sponsor. Please contact me if you have not received your prize. Please allow for at least 6 weeks for you to receive your prize. If you don’t receive it after 6 weeks, please inform me and I will contact the sponsor to try to resolve the issue.

Marvelous in My Monday #7

Marvelous in My Monday is a link up party started by the wonderful Katie over at Healthy Diva Eats. You just post about marvelous things that have happened to you over the week. 

This past week I spent most of my time sick, but things definitely started looking up on Thursday so I do have a few marvelous things to talk about!

1. Tuxes - Yesterday we went to Men's Warehouse and got the fiance, his grooms men, and my man of honor their tuxes for the wedding! I'm so excited! They are charcoal Vera Wang tuxes and the boys will be wearing paisley {the fiance put his foot down and demanded that detail} vests. After the boys left for some "bonding" time my mom and I bought the fiance some wedding gifts and we went shoe shopping at DSW. {SHOES!}

2. Family - Like I mentioned in my last post, my entire family has been under one roof this past weekend and while the house has been crowded it has been so nice! Lots of joking around, time spent with the babies... Feels like vacation or a slumber party! 

3. Mustache - In all my years my father has ALWAYS had a mustache. We constantly dare him to shave it, and he doesn't. So Saturday we dared him again, teasing him that he was all talk and no walk. Sunday morning Dad came into my room to wake Logann and I up since we were bunking together. He kept laughing and acting like he was hiding something, so Logann was like "What are you hiding?!" He said he wasn't hiding anything, and that he thought we would notice that his mustache is gone! I was out of bed so fast! Logann threw the blanket over her head and refused to look! It was pretty funny! But after 25 year I've finally seen all of my father's face! And he is so handsome without it, but it is a serious transition! I still can't believe it when I look at him. I think Candace is going to need therapy though. 

4. Old new clothes - Remember those clothes you packed up or wrote off because you couldn't fit into them anymore? Well I got out some dresses that I never really got to wear yesterday and I was able to wear them! I felt like I had a whole new wardrobe. Its little things like that that makes all the hard work worth it!

Today is going to have some rough moments though. I'm about to report the Camaro flooded to insurance; they may fix it or depending on the wiring total it {unlikely} but it will definitely hurt my resale value in the future. You know those guys you see at car shows that are madly in love with their cars? That is me, except I have boobs. My dream scenario is that it will be labeled water damage and I'll get a new interior. So we will see. 

But tonight I get to have dinner with one of my favorite friends and the fiance so that is the bright side! And since I'm off today I'll also get to fit in a kick butt workout! 

You have good days and bad days; and I always try to find the good in the bad! So chin up!

Eat clean, train hard, and inspire others!

-Kiwi && Me

Back from the Dead

Good evening my dears! I'm terribly sorry for abandoning you for nearly a week, but such is life. After my MIMM post on Monday, I started working on my post for Tuesday which I had planned on finishing Tuesday night.


Tuesday we had a family interview for the fiance's State Trooper process, which I think went pretty well. I learned a lot, and I feel a little better about him potentially taking on that role. But not soon after they left, I got sick sick sick. I immediately went to bed. Wednesday I got up, suffered through work, came promptly home and went back to bed. This was Thursdays process as well, except by Thursday evening I started feeling pretty human again.

I think it was partly due to stress, so Friday I took a pamper day and just focused on me. I got up early, went to the gym for some cardio, got a massage and a hair cut! I was feeling pretty much like a million bucks. Then Logann decided to come home last minute, and Candace's air conditioning broke so all of our whole family is sleeping under one roof. This hasn't happened since 2006. But it is SO MUCH FUN.

Today has been nothing but relaxing; Logann and Candace sewing, shopping, napping... Well I did get in a workout, Total Body Sculpt with Gilad! Tonight we are cooking up Skinny Taste Black Bean Burgers with Chipotle mayo and avocados, sweet potato fries, and home made cole slaw. Dinner on the patio with a few beers and wine, couldn't get any better.

On the subject of my Camaro - this has not been her week. Monday she almost flooded but water did get in the floor boards so she will be headed to get a good steam cleaning. If this doesn't help then I'll be calling insurance to get a new interior. Even though I just forked out to get the windshield replaced. And to top it all off, the poor girl just rolled 50,000 miles... She is getting so old. Kidding, but seriously...


So Survive on $35; apparently during my down time there was a lot of twitter and blog negative back lash to Lindsay's idea. Personally, I think it is GREAT. One of the biggest complaints I hear from people when I talk about my healthy lifestyle is that its too expensive. The fiance sometimes offers to stock his mother's pantry for a week and we follow the same guidelines. We make a list with a small budget, go to the store with a calculator and try to leave with nothing unhealthy except for maybe ice cream. It is a good challenge to teach people that it can be done, I don't believe it was ever her intention to make light of those in low income families. I think it is good to teach people to budget, to be aware of portion sizes and costs, and to be creative! Haters are going to hate; but I think Survive on $35 is great!


So this week, you'll be hearing a lot about Lara Bar; I'll be posting the review and a giveaway that was supposed to be on the blog this week before I got sick. So check back Tuesday!


Question:
What is your favorite wine?
What fun things are going on in your life this weekend?

Eat clean, train hard, & inspire others!
Kiwi && Me

Marvelous in My Monday #6

Marvelous in My Monday is a link up party started by the wonderful Katie over at Healthy Diva Eats. You just post about marvelous things that have happened to you over the week. 

Rain: In the last week we have received over twelve inches of rain out here in SE Texas. There is some local flooding but everyone seems pretty to be in good spirits. This time last year we were in a terrible drought and fighting forest fires right and left, so the rain is welcome even if its excessive. I guess the only down side I can see is that the camaro is terribly dirty and so are the pups, but it has made from some great naps. 

Plus the rain has made from some awesome running weather! Got a quick run in last night before dinner and yoga!

Pink Berry: My new favorite frozen yogurt place. Their chocolate flavored froyo is so rich and delicious! Plus I love that they have a mini size so I can get my ice cream fix without having to worry about my waistline. I even have the fiance in love with them too, though I think he would rather drive 30 minutes to the other side of town for Orange Leaf's Birthday Cake froyo if I would let him.

Construction: It has begun! My family is currently in the process of turning the garage into a workout room, building out the upstairs, and building another garage with storage space. The workers came out and laid the frame for the new slab, no we are just waiting on the concrete to get the show on the road! I can't wait to share with you all the finished product of the gym! It is going to be so AWESOME!

Wedding Dress: COMPLETE! The bustle is done, and its been steamed so that bad boy is ready to rock in three months! It feels good to check that off my list of to do's! Also my sister's bridesmaid dresses came in and they are {GORGEOUS}!

Larabar: Look what I received in the mail!! Come back tomorrow for a review! I can't wait to share what I thought of these wonderful bars!

89 Days: Till I'm a married lady! {Get used to the count downs - you only have 89 more days of it} It is time for me to really focus on my portion sizes and getting in solid work outs a few times a week. I'm not going to go crazy and freak out, I am happy with my weight. I would like to mostly maintain and tone up a little! Plus if I loose anymore weight my dress won't fit, and I loooooooove my dress.

the gorgeous flowers my fiance brought me to mark three months till our day

Questions:

What marvelous things have happened to you recently?

What is your favorite froyo flavor?

Eat clean, train hard, & inspire others!

-Kiwi && Me