Hello friends! happy friday! How’s your week going? Friends celebrating this week: how did you spend the holidays?
Before we get to today’s post, HUGE congratulations to the winner of this year’s Favorite Things giveaway: Mary Anne C. Stay tuned for more giveaways to come in the new year!
It was an amazing week. We spent a few nights at the Scottsdale Princess, which is one of our favorite winter traditions. They have so many beautiful light displays, Santa, ice skating, rides and the atmosphere is so festive and fun.
(They also have a ridiculous hot cocoa cocktail called the Nutcracker that is SO good.) We met up with friends and enjoyed all the activities on the property and also had dinner at the new Toca Madera.
We were delighted with the food and service. Everything was perfectly cooked – we shared guacamole, chips, oysters, and Pilot and I enjoyed margaritas. For appetizers, the kids got truffle mac and cheese and chopped salad with chicken, while Pilot and I enjoyed steaks and side dishes. We ordered three desserts (we want to try everything when we go out to eat lol) and the presentation was so unique – everything was on a board decorated with a lit candle.
While we were in Scottsdale we also saw Ballet Arizona Nutcracker; one of my all time favorites!
The rest of the week was Winterhaven lights and fun with friends, Christmas Eve at my dad’s and Christmas at our house. This week was filled with everything I love: family time, time to relax, and great food.
(All our pajamas are from Hanna Andersson)
We had the usual nana’s egg casseroletamales, beansbaked pastries with cinnamon.
The pilot made his famous egg nog:
and for dinner we had a huge mixed board, caviar + side dishes, shrimp cocktail, and for dinner, beef fillet with horseradish and mustard sauce, smoked turkey, Brussels sprouts and sweet potato puree.
Dessert was Christmas Eve from the consecrated,
homemade pumpkin pie,
various macarons, and a million cookies that madre and I baked 😉 These are some of the cookie molds that we took to our neighbors:
We played saran wrap ball game and a few other games, and Pilot and I ended the evening sitting by the fire by the pool. It was perfect 🙂
It’s time for the weekly Faves party on Fridays! This is where I share some of my favorite finds from the week and around the web. I always love to hear about your favorites too, so shout out something you like in the comments section below.
12.27 Favorite Friday
Fashion + Beauty + Random:
A friend of mine said this was her favorite Christmas present so I ordered one for myself. I’m excited to use it for our next get together to heat up the food.
This shirt is so cute for Valentine’s Day!
The perfect classic sweater dress
Read, watch, listen:
Are you doing Dry January this year?
Fitness, health, life and good nutrition:
While we were in Scottsdale, I was able to take a Pvolve class at their new studio in Scottsdale. It was one of the best group fitness classes I’ve taken in a long, long time. The instructor had amazing opinion and energy and I really love the Pvolve training and format. It incorporates functional strength training with a unique position – lots of internal and external rotation – balance components, and the tools are effective in adding an extra challenge. It was HARD and I was pleasantly sore afterwards! My full blog post review is here.
SO many sales on some of my favorite health and wellness brands. If you want to tap into your FSA/HSA funds as we close out the year, check out this post.
– EquiLife is having a big sale on tests and supplements this week. If you want to test as we head into the new year, I highly recommend starting with the big 5 or Kit for beginners. (If you would like me to be the one to review the tests with you, please email me your confirmation number at gina@fitnessista.com subject TEST and I can make sure the results are tracked back to me.)
– Last chance for a 20% discount on HigherDOSE with the code FITNESSISTA20. If you want a sauna blanket, PEMF mat or red light masknow is the chance.
The January detox starts on January 13th if you want to plan ahead! My code is FITNESSITA10 if you want to join.
Thank you so much for stopping by the blog today! Have an amazing weekend and see you soon!
xoxo
Gina
