I hereby swear I will take VERY GOOD care of this laptop and will not overcrowd it with hundreds of thousands of photos or one million variations of the same document/download.

SWEAR.

Other than that, my parents came down to L.A. for the weekend to celebrate Mother’s Day, so I had such a nice weekend recharging with family. We had a bunch of fun family dinners, brunches, yoga seshes & lounge time. The best part was being able to celebrate my beautiful mama, who is my very best friend in the world. I say it a lot, and anyone who follows me on social media is well aware, but my mom is seriously my other half. I admire her more than anyone in the world, and her patience, selflessness, and beauty inside and out is something I strive to emulate each and every day.

I think the COOLEST part of the weekend was being able to show my parents that MY BOOK (!!!!) is DEDICATED (!!!!) to THEM (!!!!). I have the very early stages of what the manuscript will look like in hard-copy form now, and while I still haven’t let anyone lay eyes on it (other than Steven Bratman & my editors) I let my parents peek at the dedication page so they could see that this book was largely made possible because of them. They encouraged me to chase my dreams from the youngest age onward, and they never told me I was crazy when those dreams continuously included writing books with no distinct and serious plans other than… “writing books”! Anddd look where we are now.

And speaking of Mother’s Day / inspiring women / women who kick ass in general… Have we ever talked about how freakishly obsessed I am with J. Lo? As in, Jennifer Lopez? As in, Jenny from the Block? (Lol, but really… whenever I am in the Bronx I sing that song and get weird looks. Ask Katie.)

BodyLab by J. Lo. “By Women, For Women”

A few months ago I had the incredible opportunity to attend a media launch for BodyLab health and fitness formulas, hosted by none other than J LO herself. As you would imagine, she was just as glowing, poised, gracious and drop dead gorgeous in person as she is on stage, on TV and on the big screen. She walked into the event rocking a nude-colored ensemble, hair up, her skin bronzed and radiant, and she STOLE the crowd before she even opened her mouth. It was also clear once she started speaking that she was super passionate about the BodyLab products she endorses, even correcting the teleprompter and saying, “They say I like the vanilla best, but the chocolate is my favorite by far… Who wrote this?!” I died and fell even more in love with her.

And even though she rocks times a trillion, it wasn’t just J. Lo that won me over when it came to BodyLab products. First of all, I am always on the hunt for natural protein powders that aren’t full of creatine, additives, sugar, or funky ingredients that I’ve never heard of. I drink a lot of smoothies, and because I am so active I use a lot of protein powder. I can’t be putting scoops of “unknown” ingredients into my body every day… I have to trust what I am using, and I have been through a lot of trial and error on that front. (Especially after not being vegan anymore, since whey protein powders open up a whole new arena of trial and error!)

Since I am such a protein powder buff, my friends (and readers) often come to me asking which variations I recommend. It depends on your level of activity and the results you are going for, but a super safe and great option for WOMEN who are on the go, who are active, and who are passionate about being KIND to their bodies is BodyLab protein powder. These products are not about following a fad diet to find the magic answer to slimming down and toning up, it’s about changing your LIFESTYLE to live a happy, healthy life where you are kind to your body and make good choices on the daily.

BodyLab doesn’t just have protein powders. They have a Slim Kit, a Shape Up Kit and different thermodynamic pre-workout extender supplements, joint formulas, etc. To see all of their products you can go here.

My favorite product of theirs is (you guessed it…!) the chocolate thermodynamic protein complex. I like the chocolate whey protein powder too. All of the products are backed by science that shows that they are the ultimate formulas for powerful fat burning, increased metabolic rate and enhanced energy specifically for women. Women store body fat at a much higher rate than met, whereby our fatty tissues act as a “sink” for fat storage. Their products are designed to switch a women’s body into fat-breakdown mode in order to preferentially burn away her body fat “sinks” and use them for fuel.

This helps us lose weight in the form of actual fat mass over lean body mass, all while increasing energy.

Awesome, right? Especially for us super active & on-the-go chicas. We KNOW J. Lo is active and a BUSY mama!

If you are interested in BodyLab products, head over to their site and use the code “Tbv25” to get 25% off all BodyLab products + free shipping!!!

And if you want to try the recipe that I made (one of my go-to smoothie recipes!), here it is:

Chocolate Blueberry BodyLab Shake:

1 banana

1/2 cup blueberries

1 cup almond milk

1/2 cup ice

2 scoops thermodynamic protein complex in Chocolate Decadence flavor

1 small handful spinach

Blend, & enjoy!

Have you ever tried BodyLab products? Are you going to? I highly recommend them for women who are interested in slimming down and toning up in a HEALTHY way. As J. Lo says, this is not a magic pill in a bottle. It’s not a fad. It’s a lifestyle.

Wait…. Kitchen?! Does this mean TBB is doing a recipe post? Hell to the yeah it does.

This blog started as a recipe blog just a mere year and four months ago (almost at the 1.5 year mark, I think that means a celebration is in order, yes?!), but it has inevitably evolved into so much more. When people ask me what my blog is about I sort of get all tongue-tied and say it’s about health, fitness, lifestyle, clothes and… my thoughts/my life/yoga/eating disorder recovery/the book-writing process/interviews with people I love and admire, etc.

You all know as well as I do that while the recipe posts are a ball and the fitness posts are super fun and handy dandy, nothing has more meaning than something writing from the heart and/or reading about someone’s soulful outpouring of thought and connecting with them.

However, since a daily diary blog is something entirely different from what we have going on in this neck of the woods, recipe posts still happen! And when they do, they are really delicious and drool-worthy and healthy and fab, because I’m not just sharing my trial and error morning bowl of cereal on here anymore. (Actually, I never was, but I had to make my point somehow.)

Today we are talking about a recipe I love to pieces, because, you guessed it… It’s a smoothie recipe! Chalk full of nutrient-dense ingredients, heavenly superfood protein powder (Can you say ALOHA?!), and delightful yumminess that will fuel you and keep you satisfied in the best way.

I have been really into ALOHA premium protein and superfood powders lately. They are free of any artificial ingredients (a must in my world), made from thoughtfully sourced whole foods and protein from plant sources, they have no added chemical amino acids, and they have 18-grams of plant-based protein per serving.

For a protein junkie like me, and an equally smoothie-obsessed protein junkie at that, it’s basically heaven in a pouch.

And because I have been playing around with my YouTube channel this week (have you seen my first video yet?! Tell me your thoughts!), I decided to video myself making this smoothie so you can get behind the scenes and see how it’s done – so you can recreate the experience for yourself, of course.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW5cHDbJL1Q&feature=youtu.be

^ And if you like the vid, give it a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel so I can grow this whole video content thing and bring you as much face-to-face TBB-ness as possible!

So, without further ado, here is the Vanilla Shake That Will Make Your Heart Go Boom Boom!

Ingredients: 1 overripe banana, ½ cup greens (kale or spinach taste the best), ½ cup blueberries, ½ cup almond milk, ½ cup water, 1 tablespoon almond butter, ½ packet of ALOHA Vanilla Premium Protein Powder

Method: Blend it up, baby. And do as I do at the end of the video, “Cheers!” the air, snap a photo, and tag me in it and we will virtually drink smoothies together. Woo, woo!