SUP and Hiking

While in Hawaii, my family went hiking in Kauai and got to see Waimea Canyon followed by an 8 mile hike to the Na Pali Coastline.  4 miles there and back...and all six of us perceived it to be uphill both ways.

(Waimea Canyon)

The picture above is on the way to the trail for the Na Pali Coastline.  Once we got to the trail, we started our uphill trek which, as you might have guessed from before, stayed uphill practically the whole time.  Do not let this discourage you if you get the opportunity to take this hike!  When it seems like you've been walking forever, you get to the edge of the coastline and it is sooo worth it.  The soreness you feel for the next couple days is worth it, too.  We had a great time hiking together and my brother's girlfriend, who was an NCAA athlete in college, even said it was a challenging hike.  That made the rest of us feel a lot better for having completed it :)

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The pictures don't do it justice, but the view is incredible!!!

On our last day there, we went stand up paddle boarding (SUP).  I had been excited to do this since I first heard about it last year.  Then I saw the Tone it Up (TIU) girls, Karena and Katrina, SUP-ing in one of their videos!  I had started doing TIU workouts the week before I left for Hawaii so once I saw the SUP video, I knew I wanted to try! And, it's as fun as it looks and is a great arm workout as well as leg and core workout since you have to balance so much.  TIP: if the wind sweeps you far, far away from the rest of everyone else in the water like it did to me, stop standing!  Keep paddling, but kneel on your knees instead of standing!  You'll have a lot more control over what direction you go :)

Hope you all get to try SUP and get to do this amazing hike!

Surf Craze!!

For those of you have never been, surfing is amazing.  For those of you who have, then you know what I'm talking about.  I think it is by far the coolest and most exciting thing I've ever done.  Now, I've always been beach-obsessed, so I've always known I wanted to go surfing.  However, with the exception of trying once at the age of 10 with my surfer cousins in Florida ---on a day with no waves---my surfing experience was, well,...nonexistent.    That said, I was BEYOND excited to go surfing one morning in Hawaii over Spring Break!

I was so excited to actually be doing what I had tried to vicariously feel while watching movies like Blue Crush or watching surfers like Kelly Slater, Bethany Hamilton, or even my cousin Josh.  I had also seen pictures of my boyfriend surfing and while I had stood on his board when it was sitting on carpet, standing on a board while on a WAVE was incredible.

Doesn't really count, I know...

It's pointless to tell you surfing is a good workout, but MAN.  First you have to paddle out into the water, then once you see a good wave coming, you have to paddle really hard in order to catch it.  That was my problem.  I've got the balance part of surfing down!  Maybe a minor issue there is that I'm goofy foot (meaning I put my right foot forward on the board instead of my left), but standing on the board isn't my problem; paddling is.  I had tried "training" for this day by doing a bunch of pushups and arm exercises regularly before we left for Hawaii, but I was SO sore!  At one point, I rode a wave in and it took me about 20 minutes just to get back to my family in the water...mostly because my thought process went as follows: "OH! Well here comes a wave, I'll just try to get this one *start paddling...miss wave...try to get back to family...see another wave...try to catch that one, too...miss it...*.  Repeat this process a few more times, and that is how I spent a good 30 minutes.

If you look at any surfer though, you'll see that they really need to train for this sport.  It requires a lot of upper body strength, but that's definitely not all.  You need a strong core and strong everything to get up there and do it well!  In fact, here's a link to lots of benefits of surfing...including lots of information about the type of nutrition and cross training surfers eat and do!

And here is a glimpse of one of the best days I have had yet! :D  Go surfing!

Beauty Secrets

Hey everyone!  I just did a video for Tone it Up about some beauty secrets that aren't so secret anymore...because I'm sharing them with you!

Click here for the beauty secrets video

I thought this was pretty fun!  In the video I talk about my favorite overall beauty tips along with my favorite hair, makeup, skin, and nail tips.  Hint:  Water will help with all beauty categories (hair, skin, etc).

Favorite overall beauty tip:  WATER.  (And sleep...which I did not mention, but it's important, of course).
Favorite hair tip:  wide tooth comb, Moroccan oil/Argan oil, sea salt spray.  (Also not mentioned is air-drying.  I try to do whatever it takes to not blow dry my hair just because I don't like doing it :D).
Favorite skin tip: water, moisturizers, self-tanning lotions
Favorite nail tip: keep 'em painted! Or nothing at all!
Favorite makeup tip:  Use an eyelash curler and use Q-tips to wipe away mascara from your eyelids without damaging your eyeshadow.

As an added bonus...favorite lip tip: Vaseline.  Put it on your lips during the day, before you get in the shower, and before you go to sleep.  It really makes a difference! :)

Enjoy the tips!

-Sarah