We are less than one month away from the first official* day of fall, and although I used to consider myself a summer gal, I think over the years fall has stolen my heart! I'm a sucker for cozy sweaters, crisp morning air, apple cider donuts, and the beautiful color show our trees put on for us!
With the recent drop in temperatures in Charlotte, my fall meter has been going crazy! So in lieu of my current state of mind, below you will find inspiration on what to do this season to help you get into the autumn spirit. Here are --- indoor and outdoor activities to add to your fall to-do list!
1. Try making a homemade pumpkin spice latte
2. Go pumpkin picking
3. Take a scenic fall road trip to see the leaves
4. Go on a fall hike
5. Find affordable fall home decor at Homegoods
6. Make pumpkin cupcakes
7. Visit a cidery for apple cider and donuts
8. Go apple picking
9. Shop for all the fall candles
10. Make Hot Toddies
11. Attend a football game
12. Bake a harvest loaf
13. Take fall family photos
14. Roast marshmallows at a bonfire
15. Go star gazing
16. Getting matching flannel and do a mountain weekend with your best friends
17. Snuggle by the fire
18. Make a giant pot of chili
19. Take a foggy Sunday morning walk with the pup through a park
One year in the making, and my very first home office project is finally here and complete! Working from home can be challenging for me, especially prior to having an office that actually felt like a work environment. When it came to designing this space, I knew I wanted to use Jonathan Adler as my inspiration. His designs are modern, glamorous, and eclectic -- perfect for the boss babe vibe I was going for. I really wanted this area of our home to feel mature, powerful, and visually inspiring to work within!
My main hurdle with this office design was the simple fact that I didn't know where to start. Despite my expertise in being able to put outfits together and source different pieces from various retailers, interior design is just not my strong suit. Insert Theory Design Studio! I solicited Theory's help in putting this space together, and although the process was lengthy - I'm super happy with the end result.
Theory came out to my home, took a look at the space, measured off the dimensions and talked with me about what my vision for this space was. From there, they drew up several mood boards for the main pieces of furniture in the room, and either ordered my selections, or took the feedback to source new options or pricing that better suited my budget.
Our second biggest hurdle was the fact that my office is actually designed to be a spare bedroom. So the first order of business was to make this space actually feel like an office. To combat the bedroom aura, we switched out the light fixture for something interesting and unexpected in a bedroom! While I would've loved to purchase a fixture off JA's site, that just wasn't in the cards monetarily. So, we sourced a gold sputnik fixture similar to ones on his site, but for a fraction of the price from Amazon. In hind site, I would've liked to rip out the carpet and replace it with hardwood floors to add to this -- but since this is not our forever home, we were unsure if this was an investment that made sense at this particular time in our lives - so we opted out.
I also really wanted this space to pop without losing it's natural light! To do so, we utilized a classic color palette of black, white, navy and gold to refract the light coming in from the windows, and added floor to ceiling custom drapes to draw attention to the light source. While the office is complete for now, I'd love to add some eye catching wall paper behind the artwork in the future, or potentially our next home!
With the start of fall just one short month away, and back to school season in full swing - I am teaming up with Walmart today to bring you an affordable and easy look for fall! Earlier this year, I shared these head to toe Walmart Fashion finds, and you all couldn't believe how good the jeans were; and to be honest, I couldn't either! So this time, I set out to find a pair just as good but in the ever so popular boyfriend cut. Boyfriend jeans are probably my most reached for, and most worn jean style in my closet. They are easy to dress up, easy to dress down, and mix well with high and low staple pieces.
These are from Sofia Vergara's collection with Walmart (which by the way, if you haven't checked this collection out, you should), and come in at under $30! I am wearing a size 4 for reference, and they do run true to size. I have the hem of these jeans rolled down, but for a more casual look you can roll them up once. I paired them with a casual white t-shirt, and this duster cardigan from Sofia's collection, which comes in 4 colors with 2-day delivery. It's soft, super versatile, and looks great paired over a dress, or jean shorts as well.
While I was searching through their website, I also came across this under $10 sweatshirt that I'm really excited about! I sized up to a Medium in it for a more oversized fit -- and again, it's another item that can be dressed up or down super easily! I'll be sharing a few more pieces I found on Instagram stories today (including a killer top for work), so make sure to tune in there to see!
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*In partnership with Walmart. As always, all opinions are my own.
Alright, alright friends! It's time for another fitness related post, because that's been my most frequently asked about topic as of late. What is my routine? Does it work? How long do the results take? What do you eat? Today I'm answering all of your questions about the fitness program that helped me lose 4 lbs and 3% body fat in just 4 weeks!
What is the Jordan Edwards Fitness Challenge?
If you're a regular around here, then you probably saw my before and after photos of this challenge over on Instagram a couple weeks ago. The Jordanke Fitness Challenge is a 4 week fitness program complete with a meal plan crafted by fitness trainer Jordan Edwards!
The program consists of 6 workouts a week that alternate muscle groups daily. Each workout consists of 15-20 minutes of high-intensity cardio like treadmill sprints, stair master, or walking at a steep incline, followed by a series of weight lifting. Two of the 6 days are dedicated to quads, legs and glutes, while the other 3 days a week are focused on upper body strength with 1 day at the end of the week for only HIIT training to allow your body to rest and rebuild. Abs are also incorporated into the back end of three workouts per week, alternating days.
Time Investment
I talked about this in my social media post regarding the challenge, but in total, each workout lasts anywhere from 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes depending on which muscle group you are working. Days with abs are always closer to an hour and a half, while days without abs tend to run closer to 1 hour 15 min.
Financial Investment
There are different tiers you can purchase for this challenge depending on your meal plan preferences, but I spent $90 on the first challenge which included the workouts in a PDF file, as well as a coordinating meal plan for the duration of the program. I will be beginning my second challenge with Jordan on August 12th, in which I chose to do custom macro coaching which ran around $135. I decided to opt for this the second go around as I really wanted to be able to consult with her regarding whether or not my macros were where they are supposed to be based off my fitness goals, and to have the ability to adjust them with her based off how my body feels! On the flip side, what's different about this program vs many others is that Jordan actually offers the chance to win money at the end of the 4 week program for those who have the most significant changes! Winners are picked solely on her discretion via before and after photos submitted to her, and participating in sending the photos is completely optional (but worth it in my opinion as the prizes can be thousands in cash). She also runs mini challenges each week for things like Lululemon gift cards, supplements, and free entries into future challenges!
What does a typical day look like?
I found out about this program through a girlfriend of mine who had incredible results! I was inspired by her to join, and we used the buddy system to hold each other accountable throughout this last challenge. We start our workouts at 6 AM - beginning with the cardio portion first. Cardio is different daily, so some days we begin on the stair master while other days we begin with the treadmill. Regardless, we complete 10-15 minutes of cardio and then move on to weights. From here, we follow the guide provided by Jordan for each days muscle group, and then end our workouts with the remaining cardio (usually another 10 minutes). Weights are sectioned off into a main exercise, and a superset to the right of each main exercise. Supersets are not mandatory, however, we complete all of them and they are totally doable! While Meryl completes the main exercise, I complete the superset and then we swap until all reps are finished! This is also super helpful if you are doing the "gym" version of Jordan's plan as it can be challenging to occupy two pieces of equipment when the gym is busy (it's packed at 6 AM). On days that include abs, we complete abs after weights!
How long did it take to see results?
Every ones body is totally different! Some of the girls in the support group on Facebook saw results as fast as the first week, while others like myself didn't really start to see significant changes until about week three! Overall, over 4 weeks time I lost 4 lbs and 3% body fat by simply following the plan as instructed and completing all of the workouts! I took a two week break after the first challenge, and then came home from vacation and started the program over again! I have now completed almost 7 weeks of her workouts and am starting to see crazy definition in my quads and shoulders! Meryl is a much more petite female than myself, and saw incredible changes during her first four weeks, and even greater muscle gain during her second challenge with Jordan! Like I mentioned above, everyone will progress at their own rate - the point is that you're creating a healthy lifestyle for yourself that should hopefully carry on beyond the challenge. I should note, I continued my journey with Ro (personal trainer) during the challenge - meaning I worked out twice in one day 3 days a week during the challenge!
Is the meal plan easy to follow?
Girl, YES! It's so easy to follow and I absolutely loved what I was eating! I never felt like I was "dieting" or restricting myself of certain things, and I also never felt hungry - which is important because I'm a snacker! If you work full time, the meals are easy to prep on Sundays and take to work with you as well. Jordan also suggests incorporating intermittent fasting into your meals, and provides a breakdown of what time to eat each meal at depending on the length of your fast. Meals include things like overnight oats, protein smoothies, salads with grilled chicken, omelettes, avocado toast etc. Personally, I think the meals and accountability for sticking to those is a huge factor in the success of your results with this program! Something else worth noting that I really appreciated was a built in cheat meal on Friday nights! My hubby and I LOVE doing date night on Fridays and this allowed me to eat lighter during the day so that when I went out to eat that evening, I had room in my daily nutrient goal to cheat without feeling guilty! I used MyFitnessPal to track all of my foods, and saved all the recipes under the "meals" tab prior to the challenge so I could easily just click it and move it over with each meal without having to enter each separate ingredient for every meal.
Any advice for a first time challenge participant?
Buddy System
First of all, cheers to you for participating! The first step to a healthier lifestyle, is making a change. In terms of advice, I really recommend the buddy system! Even outside of this challenge, the buddy system has been one of the biggest drivers behind my motivation. It's also the reason I love personal training so much. I did this first challenge together with my girlfriend Meryl, and I truly think it makes a difference in how hard you push yourself, never skipping a day, and just to have someone to talk too who can relate to your experience! Ideas for people to recruit could be your husband, boyfriend, sister, friend from work, or anyone in your life that's expressed interest in being healthier maybe!
Using MyFitnessPal Efficiently
Something else I think makes things a lot easier is going through the meal plan prior to the challenge and adding each recipe as a "meal" in MyFitnessPal. Tracking your foods daily can seem like a lot of work if you're constantly having to enter each ingredient of the meal into your app manually. If you save all the recipes as meals, you can just click that meal and move it over in seconds when you need too! It also allows you the opportunity to put all the meals suggested into an "ideal" day of eating prior to the challenge to see if it lines up with the macro goals you've set for yourself! If it doesn't, you can adjust and swap foods out to end up within your goal prior to actually eating them!
Muscle Massage Gun
My last piece of advice is one that actually came from Meryl! It's a little bit of an investment, but I really think it's worth it. I was super sore after the first week of the challenge and just wanted to punch my thigh muscles with my first to get them to loosen up! Meryl suggested getting a muscle massage gun like this one. This is something she uses, and really recommends to help keep your muscles from being too sore to workout! I just ordered one myself and can't wait to use it this next go around!
PS: If you have a killer sweet tooth like me, and want a healthy option to curb the cravings - give this no bake energy bites recipe a look! They've saved my life when the chocolate cravings kick in full force.
