Thursday is the new Friday

Last night J.D. and I enjoyed our first night "out" here in Arizona. We made it to that free rock concert I'll get to in a bit.

Thursday morning started off very slooooow for me. Hey, since I have free days, I'm going to take advantage of it while I can! I got up, did a million errands and then explored my OnDemand fitness channel. Pre-workout I threw together a tropical smoothie that included piña colada yogurt, mango, pineapple and its juice, watermelon, banana and a small handful of frozen raspberries for texture. I didn't end up adding any juice/water/milk to the smoothie because the watermelon basically turned into a juice when blended up!

I drank a glass of this for breakfast, got my butt kicked in a kickboxing cardio 35-minute video, and then had another glass of this with my peanut butter and jelly sandwich lunch!

A quick shower was in order and I was ready to go by the time J.D. came home from work. We drove out to Toby Keith's I ♥ This Bar & Grill about an hour before the show in hopes of grabbing some dinner before the place started to get packed.

The ambiance in the entire place was concert-ready, black lights all over the place and the regular lights turned waay down. I settled on a pulled chicken sandwich with spinach, roasted red pepper and Swiss cheese and instead of regular fries on the side, got a heaping side of sweet potato fries! Unfortunately, I was not able to finish them...

Alongside my meal I ordered my favorite beer of all time, a Blue Moon with a slice of orange.

The guitar tells you I'm over 21 ;) Now on to the concert! I'm not much of a country fan... but it didn't matter because the local rock station put on a three-band rock concert (my favorite music, if you care). We enjoyed the opening act while eating and savoring our drinks at the guitar-shaped bar.

The band was good and the beer cold, a perfect combination for a Thursday night. If nothing else, I've expanded my horizons to include a new local band! We waited around a bit in between sets for the next band to come on. I didn't know anything about the second band, but I heard some clips from the headliner on the radio station and knew I was down to hear from band No. 3.

However, band No. 2 absolutely sucked. It was screamy, off-key and just super bizarre. It kind of reminded me of Franz Ferdinand on crack. We also had cooped Woodstock up in his crate in the bedroom for several hours and didn't feel like keeping him in there too much longer. Knowing that the headliner wouldn't play for probably over another hour, we decided to go home instead. I'm a little bummed, but I'll look them up on iTunes or something! Hey, in one month they radio station is hosting another free concert so maybe we'll stay for the entire thing then!

Lucky for him, J.D. has a late night at work today (fall NCAA sports start THIS WEEK, it's so weird not to be working them!!!), so his boss let him come into work this afternoon. And since he didn't have anywhere to be in the morning, he made me breakfast!!! So sweet :)

He made me an egg and bacon sandwich with some more of that pineapple mango home made salsa. Oh yeah, and more fruit on the side.

While J.D. was off at work, my doorbell rang and to my surprise a Hope Aurorae Yoga Mat sat at my door, beckoning me to open it! You see, Aurorae sent me their Hope Yoga Mat to try out and rave about to you all for my shop. And let me tell you, it was an AMAZING experience! I've used a few yoga mats before and with our hardwood/tile floors, most are way too thin to comfortably work out. Aurorae is so spongy and feels thick and cushiony. However, the mat is quite thin, so it stores pretty well! On top of that, the mat also comes with a towel and rosin bag. I don't know about you, but I get so insanely sweaty when practicing yoga. This was like the answer to all my yoga prayers! I didn't slip around and my knees never once felt the hard tiles beneath me. Obviously, with the new mat I was inspired to try out some more workouts On Demand. Today was all about Yoga For Surfers.

I don't know about you guys, but yoga kills me! I enjoy it and definitely feel the workout, but my wrists always burn and I can't really hold the positions as long as suggested. Granted, I'm still on the beginner side, but I don't know if I'll ever be this flexible! Yoga faithful: Have you noticed that?? Or are you a pro at in and this is something I'll just get better at/ignore??

Not only did I enjoy the mat, but Woodstock did as well.

And yes, I WOULD get a pink yoga mat :) Woody looks like a little surfer himself on the Aurorae Mat. Anyways, if you're curious and want to try one for yourself, I've put the mat in my shop (click there to see it!) because it's soooo awesome! You can select from a variety of colors too.

After my practice and shower, it was time for a quick lunch. I cooked up some quinoa and made a vegan-ish warm salad.

As the quinoa cooked, I put some oil and vinegar in a pan and heated up tomatoes, celery, spinach, carrots, cucumber, Craisins and chopped walnuts. Once it cooled a bit, I halved some grapes and then tossed it all in with the quinoa. About a cup of the quinoa cooked up to probably give me 3-4 side dish portions. Since I'm on my own for dinner tonight, this might be a good side with some chicken :)

After polishing that off, I was ready for something sweet:

A Ciao Bella blood orange sorbet popsicle!!! SO GOOOOOOOOD. I don't care that summer's coming to a close, this keeps it going.

Enjoy the weekend kids! Have any fun plans?!?!