Greetings my granola loving friends. You sure all want to nab yourself that Love Grown Foods prize pack in my giveaway this morning! And thank you for the birthday wishes!! You all sure know how to make a gal feel the love.

You know what I find funny? When you’re a little girl, birthday time means getting to be a princess for the day…

And then you grow up and want to annihilate your body with challenging workouts to celebrate your birthday. What? Just me? Oh well.

I briefly mentioned hitting up spin class last night. I think I was still in shock when I wrote that because I didn’t tell you just how awesome the class was. Let me tell you. It. Was. Awesome! Thanks to a busy schedule, it has been almost a month since I have made it to spin. How did that happen?! I had withdrawals and didn’t want to enter my birthday without in my life another day.

I look like I did a swimming workout and not a cycling workout! Something about spin classes really challenges me. I have taken them for over 7 years (wow!) but still want to lay down and die after almost every class. After a month off? It wasn’t too pretty, but it sure felt good. Even with my legs burning and my heart about to beat out of my chest. The class coupled a lot of speed work with increasing resistance on the bike. I didn’t know whether to slap or kiss my instructor with every turn.

To add more pain fun to the experience, I did a little weight lifting action at the gym this morning. I broke my usual circuit down into a bunch of supersets. Here are the deets…

It looks like a lot but it went by quickly with going between each superset back to back. I would do a squat then dumbbell row, squat then dumbbell row, squat then dumbbell row to get three sets of each and then move immediately into the pull-ups with lat pulldown and so on. I may look a little crazy jumping from move to move, but it works for me. In. Out. On with that little thing called life.

I have a feeling I will feel sore by the end of the day. Not a bad thing. It is my birthday after all…so I can hopefully score a free massage from the husband.  

• What workout never gets easier no matter how long you do it?
• What is one way you love to celebrate your birthday?

Holy moly fritoly! Today has been insane!!! I have had to play the catch up game from the moment I awoke this morning. Does anyone else feel like things multiply into a tremendous mountain of to-dos if you leave things for a few days? I sure do. And the proof is in the pudding laundry, dishes, and emails – oh my!

This morning when I woke up I wanted to get to the gym…badly. I was ready to tackle a great workout before dropping Makenzie off at preschool. I got dressed to go and had a smile on my face.

Then, I came downstairs and saw the incessant things that needed some tender loving care. I don’t function well if our main living spaces don’t have some semblance of order, so I scratched the workout for some speed cleaning instead.

Bing. Bang. Boom. I knocked out quite a lot of those pesky little tasks and could breathe easy. Things may not be truly clean clean, but they work well enough for me. Honestly though? Things are never really clean clean in this house. I am a very superficial cleaner. Wipe off the counters. Put away dishes. Sweep up the floors. Maybe dust a bit or swipe a brush through the toilets if you’re lucky. I don’t think I can tell you the last time I did anything like clean the baseboards, deep clean the tubs/showers, or give my floors a good cleaning. I have enough trouble showering myself!

After this morning’s quick clean fest I got to thinking that maybe I should take care of that. Or invest in a monthly maid visit. That sounds better. I have thought of allowing myself a monthly massage indulgence as a reward. Maybe I could switch that out for a cleaning service indulgence? There’s a thought. Although, gah! I don’t know which would be a better choice! Which needs a better rub down? My body or my baseboards?

I think I know why I have such issues with staying on top of cleaning. Many days my time boils down to the following: cleaning or playing with my kids? Cleaning or blogging? Cleaning or going to the gym? Cleaning or watching Bachelor Pad? Ahem. You can see why cleaning just doesn’t happen around here.

I need to figure out what super powers got into me today though. I somehow did all of those things today…cleaning, blogging, gym (went to spin class this afternoon), and of course playing with the two most adorable beings on the planet!

I swear they have grown since I left for Healthy Living Summit. And gotten smarter. And cuter. And funnier. And snugglier. I missed them so much! I even miss them now while they are in bed. I guess Bachelor Pad a supremely insightful book, podcast, or whatever will keep me company instead. Good night loves!

• Which would you choose – monthly massage or monthly cleaning service?
• Are you a superficial cleaner or are you amazing and deserve mad props for staying on top of deep cleaning?