Blog Updates, Travels, Good Reads, and Juice Cleanses

Goodness, I am in a bit of shock at how fast this year has gone by. Can you believe we are in October already?! It is crazy. Last month was also a bit crazy and a few blog posts slipped by- mostly those on Sunday. I know, it is awful. To make up for it, I plan on starting Sunday posts back up as of this week. This picture is also a bit of an apology for the lack of Sunday posts... It is one of my favorites and was taken right around this time four-years ago. The umbrella was random and quite needed since our photo shoot got rained out. Ended up being pretty great anyway!

Another P+K bonus is that we will be doing a few giveaways this month as well in honor of P+K's bday! Yep, P+K is turning two this month and to celebrate, I will be in Greece!! Yayyy! So excited about our trip to Greece in a few short weeks. Ahhhh, still have no idea what to pack though... All in time I guess...

If anyone has any must-see or must-eat at places, please let me know. Also, if you have any yoga studios you love, that will be great to know as well. We will be there for about a week towards the end of October and I have heard that the weather has been and will be fantastic!

This trip has been a goal of mine for about ever and I am seriously excited to finally be going!!! Another big goal this year has just started as of September. We are going for a big business goal that will take an entire year to accomplish. The funny thing is, this was not on the hubs or my goal plans for this year. We kind of just decided it in May and have been building the framework for it ever since. It is a bit crazy how all this happened, but pretty awesome at the same time.

Honestly, I am just so excited about everything we have going on. To add to it, P+K will be having a few guest bloggers and two new weekly article topics. The first being health and fitness app reviews. The second is a challenge post each week. If you missed the 100 burpee challenge, check it out! The challenge posts will be similar to that, but not always that insane. By the way, did you do the 100 burpee challenge? My 100 were completed in 14:30. I was shaking afterwards.

Anyway, I am not quite sure how these articles will all work into the weekly mix. There may need to be some days with multiple topics (a weekly round-up with challenge?), or a few days with more than one article per day. However it works, we will figure it out as needed! And, since this has been quite the long article about a whole lot and very little, here is something funny AND informative. I laughed out loud when I read this article and used it to learn a bit more about juice cleanses.

Juice cleanses have become such a hit that is just seems silly to not try out a few of these juice companies and let you know which are great and which to avoid. If you have any juicing companies you want me to check out, let me know through e-mail or in the comments below.

Question: Have you ever done a juice cleanse? If so, did you like it? What about Greece? Let me know what I should see please oh please!

Housekeeping

Sometimes, there are little updates that I feel need to be made but are too random to put at the bottom of a post itself. Today, I decided to make an entire blog post about all those little details that should be told, but the timing just seems all wrong. 

There are some exciting things and exciting projects coming up for P+K! Of course, one of the big ones is that we will be leaving for the summer in just over a month! Like last year, I plan to blog my usual days and only take Saturday's as a rest day. This may be a bit more difficult this year since it is our last year at the Michigan location of Circle A. You are awesome though, so please forgive me if I miss a Sunday post or have fewer workout pics than usual... And that brings me to the elephant that has been following me from room to room forever.

So, I know that I have majorly dropped the ball on the whole Sunday posts bit. It is quite funny considering that they are my favorite posts and I have been getting a really positive response on them. Promise, you will start seeing more regular weekend posts and I will stop being lazy or busy or whatever I have been :) I have also really been loving the short, fun article posts. It feels a little silly sometimes since they are tiny and not on health or fitness, but let me know if you want me to keep them or just get back to the fitness stuff. 

We will also be having a few guest posts coming up that I am super excited about and a few other surprises that are too new to discuss yet. But, I promise you will love them! 

There we go. Whhooo, I feel like I have gotten a lot off my chest now. Hopefully that helps clear the P+K air. And for those who prefer lists over long paragraphs with filler, here is the long and short of it

Sum Up

• We are leaving for Michigan soon, but fear not, blogs will continue coming as usual.
• I will start-up those Sunday posts again and keep them regular.
• Guest posts and surprises to come!!!!
• Do you like the little product or article posts? If so, let me know and I will keep em'. 
• You are awesome. That one was added in, but sometimes we just have to hear how awesome others know we are. Have a wonderful day :)

Happy Birthday P+K!

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Last week, Pen and Keyboard celebrated it's 1st birthday! This has been a pretty exciting event for all of those who have worked so hard to get P+K started and keep it going! The year has been fantastic; I have learned so much about writing, fitness, and myself. And, I owe so much of that to so many of you!

Thank you for finding this little health and fitness blog and sticking with it. I sincerely appreciate all of your comments, e-mails, questions, and support. Looking back over the past year, this blog is one of my favorite parts. These daily writings on fitness and food are something that I look forward to and absolutely love being a part of. Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of those who have stuck with P+K for the past year and all of those who have come on board sometime between then and now. I sincerely love this P+K family!

Over the past year we have had quite a few popular posts. It is always funny to watch the results on posts that get the most feedback and are the most popular since they are never the ones I expect them to be. Here are the three most popular posts during P+K's first year of existence... For all those nostalgic folks, like me.

Six Ways to Use Push-Up Bars

Since it's debut in January, this post has topped the charts in weekly popularity. I cannot say that this is a massive surprise since push-up bars are one of the greatest things since sliced bread. All of these exercises can be put together to form a great total body workout. Try doing each for 30-seconds, then complete the entire thing 2-3 more times. Be sure to take a 1-minute break for jumping jacks between each set!

Calories Burned in Disney World

Really, all of the Calories Burned in Disney posts have topped the P+K popularity charts. Two of the most popular of these would be the EPCOT and Magic Kingdom calorie counter. Although these were each done separately, the post about each together is the most popular. Personally, these are some of my favorite articles to write since they give me a great excuse for visiting the happiest place on Earth. Really, there is nothing better than having a solid reason for spending all day in a Disney park. Nothing.

The Pro's and Con's of Eating Eggs

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Who knew that eggs were so popular? Seriously. This is, without a doubt, the most popular post to-date. Although this is one of the newest posts on P+K, it is one of the most read. Eggs are very interesting foods that have been surrounded with their fair share of controversy. Not only is the egg questionable, but the entire market is as well. This article goes over some of the health benefits and downfalls of eating eggs. It also helps solve the never-ending egg debate in the Ross home.