Long Weekends

Wow. We had such a good weekend. I guess you don’t know how hard you’re working until you finally get to take a breath.  This weekend was a much needed recovery for us. We snacked, laid by the beach, soaked up the sun.  It was GLORIOUS! Even though our 21st birthday isn’t until September, our grandparents, who came in for the 4th of July, wanted to pre-celebrate with us while they were in town.  Multiple birthday celebrations? Ummm YES!

We had good meals…

(dessert is totally a meal!)

Family time….

And FUN!

Did you have a nice weekend?

A Day in the Life: Haley Edition

Hey All!

This is Haley, and for today’s Thoughtful Thursday, Twineats is mixing it up with a “Day in the Life” post.  What’s it like to be a part of this terrific pair of twins?  You soon shall see…

5:45 am:  The alarm on my IPod is blaring, loudly.  I turn it off and convince Hanna that adding another 15 minutes of sleep will be life changing.  A small, sleepy groan of approval comes from under her covers.

6:00am:  Alarm #2 goes off.  We both get out of bed, bright eyed and bushy tailed (…NOT).  I then dress in workout clothes before my brain even knows what’s going on.

It’s workout time!  Complete with my spibelt, garmin and shorts, I head out for a nice 3 miler, according to my training plan.  Don’t worry, I totally wore a shirt too (unpictured) 😉

6:40am:  Return from run and take a shower!  Say goodbye to Hanna as she leaves to drive the minivan to work (yep, she’s that cool).

7:00-8:30am:  A 90 minute period of intense craziness where I…

Make my lunch for the day!  Today I made Hanna and I spinach wraps with spicy mustard.

Get ready for the day!  And lament the fact that no matter how hard I try, I will never be able to master the art of taking selfies 😦  And also, I prepare ideas for our lovely blog posts!

8:30am-5:30pm:  At work!

5:30-9:45pm:  Evening activities include posting on the blog, eating dinner, preparing for the next work day, sorting out school/major stuff and doing planks!

Hanna and I have a challenge to do planks/ab exercises everyday, and we are doing well at it!  Each night before bed, we do this workout.  Lately, I have been trying to find some more plank-related workouts, as this is the move that I really want to focus on with Hanna while we work out our abs.  Kenzie has a great workout here that is totally focused on planks 🙂

9:45pm: Bedtime!  That seems very early (especially for us being college students and all…) but our early mornings demand us going to bed at a “reasonable hour”.  Frankly we are so tired from the day that we can’t wait to sleep!

I hope you enjoyed getting to know me a bit more through my daily routine!

Tell us:  What does your daily routine look like?

–The Twins

What We Ate Wednesday

Hello from your favorite duo!

It’s Wednesday, and that means another rendition of yummy eats!  Thanks to Peas and Crayons for hosting!

Our mission to create a healthy lifestyle starts with a eating clean, and maintaining a good diet is super important.  This week, here are some highlights from our meals:

BREAKFAST TIME!  Our obsession with oatmeal for the am meal will never end, in fact, check out our ode to oatmeal here.   With endless topping options, this breakfast keeps us both full through the morning!  Our favorite combos include a splash of almond milk and a scoop of mom’s raspberry jam, or a bit of greek yogurt.

Snacks:  We love snacks!  A (rather awkward) picture of carrots 🙂  Snacking on healthy veggies throughout the day is the best way to stay full and focused, and away from sugary foods that lead to an afternoon crash later 😦  Not good!

Lunchtime on the go!  Packing our lunches for work is something we do the night before, to make for an easy morning as we have to get up and leave so darn early!  Today’s lunch featured cold chicken (our favorite protein source), edemame beans (frozen and cooked, courtesy of TJ’s) and rice.  Yummmmm!!

Soup for Dinner! Potatoes, carrots, onions, meat and a delicious broth all made an appearance to the party, making this the perfect ending to a hard day at work 🙂

What did you eat today?

–The Twins

Sunday Silence

Sunday morning I woke up bright and early and in an exercise mood! So, I decided to take advantage of this rare occasion and go for a run. Well, at least a run was the intention…

(pre-run energy! Running in the PNW requires a long sleeve shirt AND a hoodie–even in the summer)

Once I realized how terribly out of shape I am, this “run” turned into a power walk.  (Running in my neighborhood involves scaling lots and lots of hills making running hard on the knees).  I know my power walks will be short lived.  When Haley gets home (5 days!! I am so excited!) I am really going to have to kick it into gear to keep up with her! Running machine that girl is!

I wasn’t able to track my mileage because my ipod died, but I would guess upwards of 4 miles.  Not bad, right? 😉 This is one of the first times I’ve run/exercised without music! The gym at my school (where I usually workout during the school year) always has music playing in the background, and I often have Pandora streaming in the background when I do at home workouts.  The silence was actually refreshing! Granted, instead of passing the time with music,  I got to hear the lovely noise of cars rushing by, but it was a nice change!

I was absolutely famished when I got back.  Before my run, I whipped up a protein pancake (I am totally stuck on those!) Excuse the horrible picture…the lighting in our kitchen+the gross flash on my camera don’t create the best shots.

(complete with sprinkles and almond butter)

For the past 2 weeks my mom has been trying out a diet that eliminates caffeine (the horror!), so I have tried to be supportive and wait until I get to work to get my cup of joe.  However, my parents are gone for  the weekend, leaving me free to drink coffee whenever it pleases me!

On my run I passed a few coffee shops which got me thinking about how nice a latte would taste. And so, in true “poor college student fashion”, I decided to make my own…

1. Start with STRONG coffee, and I mean strong.

2. Heat some milk (either in a frother or the microwave)

3. Serve and enjoy

See? Just like Starbucks.  Actually, better than Starbucks 🙂

Check back tomorrow for an AWESOME (and I mean awesome) Apple Oatmeal Muffin recipe! Can’t wait? Check out our newly updated “eats” page!

Sneak Peek:

–Hanna

Sunday Morning Experiments

I started off this (weirdly) bright Sunday morning with an experiment. A protein pancake experiment to be exact.

I know a lot of healthy living bloggers out there have their own protein pancake recipes, but I think I’m partial to my random, thrown together “recipe” if you could even call it that!

Protein Pancakes!

1 egg
1 banana
a pinch of baking powder
a splash of vanilla extract
a handful of oats
somewhere between a 1/4 scoop and 1/2 scoop of soy vanilla protein powder (TJ’s, of course)

Mash together and cook 🙂 Quick. Easy. Delicious and my kind of breakfast!

This Weekend In Pictures

Fruit Infused Water

Spinach Salad with Cashews and Balsamic, Smoked Salmon
[Note to Self: Don’t microwave smoked salmon unless it is covered. Cleaning fish out of the microwave is not ideal.]

Watermelon. Lots and lots of delicious watermelon.

Eggs with Chicken and Veggies!

I spent a lot of yesterday indoors, organizing and such. I am planning on sharing a makeup organization tutorial with you ladies out there pretty soon, so be sure to check that out!

In the meantime, feel free to follow TwinEats on Twitter.  I hate to admit it, but I am super new to the Twittersphere. Anyone have any tips for us? 

–Hanna

reunited.

AHH! After long months of being apart, we are finally back together!!

Let the fun begin!

We started the morning off with a sweaty 2 mile run.  Hanna kept up with Haley the whole time for the first mile 🙂

After our run, we worked our abs with this awesome workout!

Eats included…

Hanna’s salad included: lettuce, salsa, shredded Canadian bacon, cheese.

Haley’s included lettuce, orange slices, shredded Canadian bacon, gorgonzola cheese (which Haley is addicted to).

And then dessert…*Disclaimer: If you make these prepare to eat ALL of them. Seriously. So good!*

Enter: TJ’s blondie bars

LOOK AT THAT FACE!!

That’s all for now! Enjoy your long weekend. 3 weeks till Haley is home for good!

Survey Thursday

Survey Thursday–I  think it has a nice ring to it! We found this one on Ms. Miranda’s blog. Enjoy 🙂

A is for Age: We are both (obviously) 20 years old. 4 months until our 21^st bday! (You can bet we are excited for that!)

B is for Breakfast: (Hanna): Mom’s granola and TJ’s vanilla yogurt! (Haley): TJ’s instant oatmeal!

C is for Current Craving: (Hanna): Chocolate milk! I have no idea why but it just sounds good! (Haley): peanut butter.

D is for Dinner Tonight: (Hanna): Probably a salad? I have a late night meeting so it will have to be something I can grab and go with. (Haley): salad at the dining hall.

E is for Favorite Type of Exercise: (Hanna): I really wish I could say running, but for now I am going to have to go with POP Pilates! Check out our YouTube channel for our favorite POP Pilates workouts! (Haley): running, enough said.

F is for Irrational Fear: (Hanna): bees. (Haley): spiders. There was one in my closet yesterday! Ahh!

G is for Gross Food: (Hanna): brussel sprouts. I’m sorry guys! I know they are healthy but I just can’t do it! Comment below if you know how to make these gross vegetables taste good. (Haley): anything fried.

H is for Hometown: (both) Pacific Northwest is where its at!!! (Starbucks, Macklemore, Microsoft, Boeing, hipsters, rain, RAIN—what more could you ask for?)

I is for Something Important: (Hanna): my sister. (Haley): my sister TOO

J is for Current Jam:  (Hanna): Alt J’s “Breezeblocks” has been stuck in my head for the past few days. (Haley): country music in general.

K is for Kids: Don’t have any! Wonder if we will have twins when we do end up having kids!

L is for Current Location: (Hanna): somewhere in Washington. (Haley): somewhere else in Washington. (Washington State that is..PNW baby!)

M is for the Most Recent Way you Spent Your Money: (Hanna): my planner! (Haley): my Garmin!!

N is for Something You Need: (Hanna):  Haley—but seriously! I miss my sister!  (Haley): my sanity back—can’t wait till school is out!

O is for Occupation: (Hanna): Marketing and Finance Double Major, but I am interested in Marketing Research or Public Relations! (Haley): Accounting and Finance Double Major, gettin’ my CPA.

P is for Pet Peeve: (Hanna): when people’s tags stick out of their clothes, or the clasp of their necklace isn’t at the back of their neck. (Haley): people who give up and don’t try their hardest.

Q is for Quote: (Hanna): “be better than you were yesterday.” (Haley): “Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m possible’!”

R is for Random Fact About You: (Hanna): I have scoliosis (which means my spine is crooked) and I had to wear a brace for two years!). (Haley): I am super good at multitasking.

The brace looked a little somethin’ like this…

(source)

S is for Favorite Healthy Snack: (Hanna): almonds! (Haley): greek yogurt.

T is for Favorite Treat: (Hanna): chocolate! (Haley): dark chocolate!

U is for something that makes you Unique: (Hanna): my smile. (Haley): agreed, my smile.

V is for Favorite Vegetable: (Hanna): roasted kale. (Haley): brussel sprouts.

W is for Workout: (Hanna): I went on a 5 mile walk/jog (which included lots of hills). (Haley): Interval runs on the track!

X is for X-rays you’ve had: (both): too many to count!

Y is for Yesterday’s Highlight: (Hanna): My dad brought Cupcake Royale home!  (Haley): my run!

Z is for Time Zone: Pacific

Thanks for reading! 🙂

–The Twins