Have a Holly Jolly Christmas!

Since so many of us will be unplugging this weekend or traveling to see family and friends, I thought I would stop by early to say Merry Christmas! Thank you all for being supportive of my very random blog journey this year. I’m so glad to be more active in the blogging community again after a much needed break.

We are headed north to spend Christmas in New England. Many pictures of our adventure to come!

Safe travels to everyone on the road or on a plane!

Merry merry Christmas from myself, Zach, and sweet Zoe!

Wedding Wednesday: Our Guest "Book"

When it came time for Zach and I to think of an idea for a guest book, we knew we wanted a non-traditional book, as well as a guest book that was unique to us.

After months of thinking about various ideas, I stumbled upon an Etsy seller that had created photo alphabets at several universities. As luck would have it, she had an alphabet for Mississippi State! We knew we had found a winning idea!

We chose letters that spell out WYNNE, for our new family’s last name.

I love that I know exactly on campus where all the photos were taken!
The W is Bully’s paw at the statue at the stadium
The Y is the goal posts at the stadium
The first N is the gates outside the stadium
The second N is the door at the entrance to the dining hall
The E is a Bully paw print near the stadium

We took the images to Hobby Lobby, where we bought a frame and then had them add maroon and white matting so we could put the pictures in the frame. We plan on having a maroon pen for guests to sign the white part of the matting.

I can’t wait to have this hanging on our walls as a wonderful reminder of our big day!

What is the most creative guest book you’ve seen? What did you use for a guest book at your own wedding?

Holiday Gifts for the Yogi in Your Life

Last year, I wrote a post on what to give your favorite runner for Christmas, so this year, I thought I would write another gift guide-but for yogis this time! The suggestions I made last year for runners are still among my favorite running must-haves. Since I’m still fairly new on my yoga journey (almost a year come February!), I’ve compiled several products that I can’t live without as well as few I have on my own wish list!

1. A Yoga Mat

A yoga mat is one of the most important items that is essential to your yoga practice. While most studios or gyms loan or rent mats out to those who don’t have their own, I think for my own peace of mind, I’d prefer to practice (and sweat) on my own mat.

Mats can range in price from $10 to well over $100. I personally have a pink mat that I got at TJ Maxx. From the experiences I’ve had over the past several months, my mat gets the job done but it isn’t by any means the best mat. I like how sticky my mat is for room temperature, standard intensity classes or home practices. I don’t slip and slide too much in these types of practices. However, without a mat towel for a hot class, I would have been slipping and sliding all over the place. Also, this mat isn’t very thick. Pros and cons!This mat is very stereotypical to feature on a gift guide, but for a good reason. The Manduka Black Mat Pro ($84 on Amazon to $94 on manduka.com) is thicker, wider and longer than “regular” mats and is very grippy and very high quality. I used one in a recent yoga class and I could tell the huge difference it made in my comfort during my practice. Manduka also makes other variations of mats that are less expensive, as well as several other companies. This mat is on my Christmas list! 

2. Yoga Mat Towel

These things make a much bigger difference during a hot class than I ever imagined! I thought for the longest time that a regular beach towel would suffice and that there was no need for a special mat towel. I was so wrong! The gripping of the towels to the mats makes slipping and sliding during a hot class a thing of the past! I have a Manduka eQua towel in Thunder (~$38-$40). Yogitoes is also another popular brand, as well as yogarat.

3. Blocks and straps

Blocks and straps can add so much to poses you’re still working into. Proper form is so important, and blocks and straps help so much to deepen the pose while you work your way fully into the pose. Blocks and straps can be bought anywhere from Walmart to Target to Amazon to a yoga studio. The prices range from ~$10-$25. Good blocks and straps don’t need to cost a lot.

4. Yoga Mat Bag

I love having a place to store my mat and accessories in between classes. It also helps keeping Zoe’s fur off my mat at home!  This gift is another case where you can choose how much to spend. Bags can be bought at Walmart, Target, TJ Maxx, etc or at more specialized stores like lululemon. Up to you on how much to spend! There are so many cute designs!

5. A Yoga DVD

There are hundreds of DVDs out there that offer great yoga practices right from home! It’s nice to have at-home options for nights when you can’t make it to a class. I have the Bob Harper Warrior Yoga ($10) and it is definitely killer! I like how there are alterations to challenging poses, so there is always something to work towards. I asked for the Tara Stiles “This Is Yoga” DVD set ($20) for my own collection after hearing great reviews. There are so many styles and options to choose from!

6. Yoga Cookie Cutters!

I think these yoga cookie cutters from Yummi Yogi are so precious! I love the cute ideas they have for using the cookie cutters ranging from pancakes to cookies to jack o lanterns! You can buy them individually ($8.50) or as a set ($40)

7. Namaste Bracelet

Etsy is such a great website for finding cute, unique jewelry. There are many yogi-inspired jewelry pieces I was able to find. This particular bracelet is wallet friendly at $8 while still being cute!

9. Lululemon

I know, I know, I did it again. I added another stereotypical “yogi must have” item to this list. I know lululemon is expensive, but for me, the quality is worth the price. You definitely get what you pay for. Lulu makes my all time favorite workout crops, the Astro Wunder Under crops ($78). I live in these pants. The fit, quality, and flattering waistband are so worth it. Lulu also makes so many great tops that I love to run, practice yoga, and do Body Pump in. Athleta also makes some great quality clothing items. I supplement my pricier purchases with some awesome pieces from Target and Old Navy. Mix and match my friends! 

10. Yoga Magnetic Poetry

These crack me up! How much fun would these be in the kitchen? You could make yoga sentences while your yummi yogi cookies are baking! An affordable, fun gift guaranteed to provide some entertainment! ($12 onAmazon)

11. More Yoga

There is no greater gift than more yoga. A gift card for classes or an unlimited month of classes would be an amazing gift for any yogi to grow their practice. Groupon and Living Social are great places to get good deals on unlimited classes at various studios in the area.

I hope you enjoyed my gift guide for yoga lovers!  If anyone has ever given or received a great yoga, running, or active in general gift pass it along!

A Christmas Tree is a Memory Tree

Decorating for Christmas is one of my favorite seasonal activities. It’s right up there with watching Elf and baking Christmas cookies!

The ornaments Zach and I have on our tree are so special to us. We make it a point to pick up an ornament at the places we visit and also buy any ornaments we see that correspond to a special memory we have or something we’ve done that year.

I love the “Merry Christmas Y’all” ornament since we live in the south! Same with the rocking chair ornament-so cute! And of course you know I have many Gators on our tree!
The top right is a very special ornament-our engagement ornament my parents gave us last year when we had just gotten engaged a few days before Christmas! The m&m ornament we picked up in NYC at the m&m store. I thought Zach was asking me if I was excited to go the m&m store (they are my favorite candy) but he was about to propose!  The South Carolina ornament is a new one this year since we just moved here in June, and the New York ornament is from our visit last December 

All of the above ornaments are football or MSU-a very special place to us since that’s where we met!

Decorating the tree is so much fun! Definitely a trip down memory lane!
We’ve also had fun decorating the rest of our house as well!

Dining room table

Coffee table

Kitchen

Front door wreath

Even Zoe loves helping us decorate! That’s her posing with her “Zoe” ornament-a little black dog just like her! Even the ornament is running  just like she does!

How has your holiday decorating been going? Do you buy special ornaments also?

A Yoga-Filled Weekend

Happy Monday!

I had quite the yoga filled weekend!

Saturday morning, I started my day with a short 2 mile run before heading to the community yoga class at our local Lululemon store!

(Side note-how pretty is downtown Greenville? We have a beautiful park downtown and an amazing running trail/walkway)

The swamp rabbit trail runs through a large part of Greenville county and is available for runners, walkers, and bikers.

I love how there is a softer, rubberized running portion of the Swamp Rabbit trail. It makes it much easier on your joints while running! (It totally weirded Zoe out though!)

I love running through Falls Park and seeing the beautiful foliage as well as the gardens, bridge, and falls.

Downtown Greenville is so cute!

Ok, tangent about running in Greenville over! 

After my run, I headed to lululemon for the class. They offer it most Saturdays and it’s taught by various yoga instructors from studios around Greenville. I love the variety and different styles of the teachers each week. I think it is so great for lululemon to offer this to the community (among many other community events!). While it is somewhat basic and appropriate for every level of yoga student, it is a great way to begin the weekend!

I spent the rest of Saturday around the house with Zach and his friend Scott watching football. That Alabama-Georgia game was intense!

Sunday I headed to Southern Om for a 75 minute hot flow class. I hadn’t been to a hot class before Sunday, and let me tell y’all-holy intense! I was dripping sweat. Literally coated head to toe and dripping all over my mat and mat towel. It was such a great experience though. It was really hard work and it had me concentrating more on the breathing aspect of yoga that I always seem to overlook and neglect during my practice. If you enjoy yoga, I highly recommend taking a hot class! Just make sure to drink a ton of water before, during, and after.

I have a Living Social voucher I purchased for another hot yoga studio that I’m really looking forward to using. 4 weeks of unlimited classes! I’m going to begin using the voucher in January since we will be traveling for a week for Christmas.
I started my week off with a killer Body Pump class! Between yoga, running, and Body Pump, I am a sore girl!

I’ll leave y’all with this picture from lululemon. It cracks me up! I definitely went both ways this weekend!  Have a great week!

Have you ever been to a hot yoga class? How about a lululemon community class? Is yoga your thing or do you have another favorite way to workout?