First Few Days of 2023 + Recent Eats

Hi, hello and I hope the new year is off to a great start for y’all.

My new year had a very STRESSFUL start thanks to the Georgia/Ohio State game. My heart was legit racing through the final quarter of that game. I thought there was no chance we were coming out on top and was shocked when Ohio state missed what would be a game winning field goal at the stroke of midnight. I found myself jumping up and down screaming in my den while my dogs had absolutely no idea what was going on. Not sure what was more alarming for them on NYE – my antics or the fireworks going off in the neighborhood.

Can’t wait to do it all over again on Monday as the Dawgs defend their national championship title!

I’ve been spending more time at the gym lately and it’s been a welcome change of pace. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while – you know that Metro Fitness Club has always been my “gym home” here in Charlotte. I’ve worked at the gym in various capacities over the years ranging from general manager to social media/marketing to personal trainer and more! (Remember when I used to coach CrossFit!?!?!?)

I phased out of training clients when I was pregnant with Finn and have only dabbled in training here and there over the last few years. A lot of this was due to childcare – with yoga and group exercise my schedule is set and never changes. With training clients it can vary week-to-week and day-to-day — and that can be hard to balance with childcare. I was also traveling a lot for work, family and personal reasons.

Towards the end of 2022 my schedule felt a whole lot more set and I was feeling a strong pull to be back in the gym working with clients one-on-one. There are seasons of life for everything and I’m grateful this one is coming back around! 🙂

Around the time that I dialed back into personal training, our gym went through its first ever change of ownership. I like and respect our previous owner and our current owner – we are so lucky to have such awesome people running the gym. Our new owner is another trainer who I have known for years and he’s done some incredible updates to the facility. The gym has always been super nice and clean but it’s next level now! We just have the best team of trainers and best member base and it makes me happy to be there. I’m training clients Monday-Thursday in various morning blocks. (Still teaching my four yoga classes a week at Charlotte Yoga too.)

You can check out more photos in this Instagram post. I’ll be writing a blog post soon sharing some of my favorite things about Metro Fitness Club so stay tuned for that!

After a frigid Christmas, we’ve had an unseasonably warm start to 2023. The weather has been so lovely for walking these first few days of the year and I was over the moon that it stayed light until 6p when we were out last night. I saw something on Instagram that in 30 days or so it will be light at 7p. WOOHOO! Can’t wait.

Okay, let’s move on to some recent eats.

BREAKFAST

I’ll start with these overnight oats since we’re talking gym and training clients. I have 6a clients 2x/week and overnight oats are one of the easiest breakfasts to pack. This morning’s schedule looked like 6a client, 7a my workout, 8:15a eat these overnight oats, 8:45a client, 9:30a client and 10:30a client.

I mixed this up the night before and added the blueberry jam and peanut butter this morning before I left.

• 1/3 cup oat
• 1/3 cup oat milk
• 1/3 cup greek yogurt
• cinnamon
• dried cranberries
• 1/2 banana chopped

Also worth noting, I’m super into using my Corkcicle stemless wine tumbler as a coffee cup. It’s the perfect size for a cup of coffee and easily sippable.

Cottage cheese scrambled eggs, half of a bagel with butter and cream cheese and orange slices.

A homemade (by my dad) cinnamon roll on Christmas morning! This thing was the size of a softball and I ate every last bite.

LUNCH

Salad with mixed greens tossed in olive oil, balsamic, honey and sea salt and topped with canned tuna, hearts of palm, rosemary roasted nuts, chickpeas, avocado and dried berries.

Scrambled eggs, toast and a mandarin.

Leftover chicken pot pie and a mandarin (loving citrus season).

Broccoli cheddar soup from Panera (the kind you buy at the grocery store), a croissant from Amelie’s and another mandarin.

Salad with mixed greens, hearts of palm, carrots, avocado feta, pecans, dried cranberries and an air fried Dr. Praeger’s veggie burger with Trader Joe’s Goddess Dressing.

One of my grandmother’s favorite meals of all time is cheese and crackers so I’ve started making fancy cheese plates for our lunch on occasion. I did this twice on our Christmas visit and it was thoroughly enjoyed by my grandmother, my mom and I.

Trader Joe’s bulgur pilaf with feta and butternut squash with shredded rotisserie chicken, avocado and hummus.

DINNER

White beans and ham with homemade cornbread and salad. Made by my dad – thoroughly enjoyed by everyone!

Another dad dinner of chicken pot pie. I made the side salad. 😛

Homemade lasagna on Christmas Eve. Such a treat!

Prime rib, gratin cauliflower, scalloped potatoes and popovers. My dad makes the BEST popovers and this is a recipe I need to learn to make for sure.

Last dad dinner is…stromboli! It was his first time making it and it turned out so well. He used this recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction. We both like her recipes a lot!

Back in my boring kitchen there was this gnocchi. I used the frozen Trader Joe’s cacio e pepe gnocchi and added mushrooms, sautéed chicken sausage and roasted cauliflower.

And this salad. Chopped green leaf lettuce with avocado, croutons, carrots, tomatoes, shredded cheese, pecans and shredded rotisserie chicken mixed with Trader Joe’s cilantro dressing and buffalo sauce. Ranch to finish it off.

ETC

A whole milk cappuccino that I sipped in Amelie’s while working on my computer before I taught yoga on Monday.

My dad made a caramel cake for Christmas. <3

That’s it for me today! I need to tackle a few more tasks and then it’s off to the yoga studio to teach this evening. Always a fun, sweaty, packed time at the beginning of the year!

QUESTIONS 

What did you do for NYE? 

Are you making any shifts or changes to your routine/schedule in the new year? 

What are some of your favorite breakfasts to pack to eat on the go?