Houston we have a Winner

Ok. Wow. I'm blown away by all the awesome people who entered my super fun giveaway. I loved all the comments about how you like to workout. I figure I should answer my own question. I'm a lifter in my heart. I've tried to do classes but it's just not my thing. I love lifting weights and doing sprints and spinning. Which is super funny because when I clicked on Rafflecopter for the winner it was a comment for someone who shares the same love. Ha! How funny!! So without further adea. Our winner is.....

 

Enrica Howard

 

Please email me with your address to steph@factthisblogisawesome.com

 

Thanks again for entering and reading the blog. Woohoo!!



Steph

 

The Arnold - Some Reviews and a Giveaway

Oh. My. Goodness!!! It's been almost 2 months since The Arnold. But I'm here to talk about it.

The Arnold Sports Festival aka The Arnold is a super fun and awesome fitness event (this is my very awesome descriptive copy), their description sounds much more informational.
The Arnold Sports Festival is the largest multi-sports festival in the nation. The event annually hosts 18,000 athletes competing in 44 sports and events, including 12 Olympic sports. The three-day Arnold Fitness EXPO located within the Greater Columbus Convention Center welcomes more than 700 exhibitors offering the latest in fitness apparel, equipment, training tools, and nutrition. Visitors gather to see professional athletes, NFL stars, and elite fitness celebrities, many who appear in the EXPO booths to welcome the visitors each year. New in 2012 are the Olympic Trials for Weightlifting and NPC Men's Physique.

So basically, Dave and I went and played at the Expo, saw some preliminaries events, met some of my most favorite fitness figures, and tried a TON of samples.  Oh and we saw some interesting people too.

I'm going to break this theme into a few posts. People I met, The Preliminary things we saw, and The things we sampled.

Today is going to be about the things we tried.  I wont bore you and talk about the weird samples we tried, the things I didn't care for or the things I got samples of and have yet to try. I'm going to tell you about the very few things I bought because if I actually took the time to buy something then it means I really REALLY wanted it, otherwise I would have just used my sample.


Butter Toffee Crunch Good Grab Bar - Oh Yeah!

Oh Yeah! Samples are the best! I even like to kiss them.

People. I want you to run not walk... RUN to your nearest nutrition store and buy yourself a box of these. Actually they aren't available in stores yet. But they had them at the expo and I was in heaven. I originally went to their booth because I am big BIG fan of Amanda Adams (woot! woot! shout out to my home girl - actually we're not home girls, she's really nice though and I HIGHLY recommend you meet her if you can) and she was there representing this awesome company. But while there I chatted with her, tried some samples and spun the wheel to win a free protein drink. I'm not sure that I can accurately describe the awesomeness of these new bars. They are like heaven... in your mouth. Like angels sing around your head as you eat them. That last statement might not be true, or maybe it is and you can't see the angels. But trust me when I tell you that all of their stuff is great. When I spun the wheel I won a protein shake, I got the Bananas and Creme protein drink and it was awesome too. I've always heard how yummy their stuff is but hadn't ever tried it. You need to check them out. p.s. I'm giving away a box of these bars at the end of this blog post so make sure you enter to win them.

Me and Amanda Adams!

Stacker Bottle:

Stacker Bottle's are the best!

From their website:

Stacker Bottle was created to provide a more convenient way to carry powders, pills, healthy snacks, and much more!

So I love this bottle. It's 3 little compartments that seal into each other, with the a little insert that can hold pills and almonds (thats what I do). Here is is why I love it. I take one part of it to the gym in the morning and I put my after workout pills in it (like my BCAA's and my multi) and then the bottom bottle holds my oats for my breakfast. Wham Bam! I pour my dry oats into a bowl add hot water and I'm eating within 10 minutes of my workout. Love it! I also really love that I can dispense my protein powder so easily too. Just awesome. So I highly recommend you get this. You will love it.  Oh and what's that? I'm giving one away at the end of this post? Well you better keep reading so you can enter. :)

Femme Fitale Workout Gloves:

Rocking my Femme Fitale Gloves

They are all the rage for us workout ladies. They look cute and they work. Thats the big thing for me. That I keep my hands looking girly, aside from the fact that I eat my nails like I'm starving, I don't want calluses or scratchy hands. Well these gloves are awesome. I really don't care that they are cute. In fact I'd rather have plain jane black simple gloves, I don't need girly colors with crystals they actually make me feel more self conscience working out next to those grunting men but I don't care. They work and they are awesome!  Here I am rocking them at the gym a few weeks ago. Oh and I got a small but probably should have gotten an extra small - I just couldn't wear purple gloves and the small was the only size left in pink.

N.O. Xplode - by BSN

N.O. Xplode is great!

So I've tried a few brands of pre-workout drinks. I used to use the Xtend in Watermelon but when they changed the formula I really hated it. So I gave myself a task to find a pre-workout drink that tasted good and actually worked. I tried the BSN N.O. Xplode in the Raspberry Lemonade and LOVED it. Too bad they were only testing out the flavor. I tried a few other samples around the expo but I kept going back to the N.O. Xplode so I bought the Fruit Punch flavor and it's really good too. Not as good as the Raspberry Lemonade so whenever that flavor comes out I will first in line to get it.  So for those of you who aren't familiar with a pre-workout drink let me talk about what the gist of it.  A pre-workout drink will give you some energy to get you through your workout, which is really important for me since I go to the gym first thing in the morning. I'm tired. I don't like getting out of bed and honestly I can tell when I haven't had my pre-workout, its not mental. So the downside to taking a pre-workout, specifically N.O. Xplode, is that it contains creatine, which can cause you to retain water and look a little thicker, which no one wants. But it's temporary. So just because you have some creatine doesn't mean you will retain that water for the rest of your life. Oh and guess what else? I'm giving away a sample of this too. Just one sample but still, its coming from my Expo stash.

So I emailed some of my favorites from the expo and asked for some samples for my readers, and you know what? They said YES! So here is what I'm giving away. 1 Hot Pink Stacker Bottle, 1 box of Butter Toffee Crunch OhYeah! bars (there are 12 bars in each box) and a sample of N.O. Xplode from my Arnold Stash. Contest begins NOW and ends 5/1/12 so make sure your get your entry in.

Here is how to enter:

Click LIKE this post on the top or the bottom of this post then click the “I DID THIS” button in the rafflecopter box below and you’ll be entered to win The Arnold FUNtastic package (thats what I'm calling it)!

Want a second way to win? Well leave a comment telling me what you favorite way to workout is? Keep it PG please. then click the “I DID THIS” button in the rafflecopter box below and you'll be entered again.

p.s. this contest is limited to US residents only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

xo, Steph

A Day in the Life of ME! and a Giveaway Winner!

So Saturday happened. And for some reason I woke up and the first thing I thought was let me take a photo of myself. I'm not really sure why but thats what I thought but the flash was really bright and my eyes hurt. Then I thought I should photograph my day. I've got what looks to be a busy day ahead so why not. So... I did and here is the story.

I woke up and the flash was super bright and it was super early... for a Saturday.

Then I went to the gym, worked out hard and kicked some booty.
Actually it was an upper body day so I kicked major upper body!

Then I put on some makeup.

And went and got my hair did.

Blonder... And smiley!

I drove in my pretty Saturn Vue.

To the Murfreesboro Mall which was not fun. We went to Gamestop. Bleh!

But Dave found me WALL-E. Which I didnt buy but I loved the movie.

Then we went to the Petstore for Cat stuff. And I played with a cute Cat but she was camera shy.

Dave bought cat litter.

Then I didn't we didn't want to make dinner so we stopped for some yummy chinese food.

So that was Saturday in a nutshell... Well in 11 photos. :)

Oh and we have a winner for the super fun giveaway of the 11x17 print from Lesley's fab Etsy store. And according to Rafflecopter the winner is.....

Heidi

Heidi I'll be emailing you soon to let you know you won so start getting excited about your prize.

To those who didn't win don't worry... I'll be having another giveaway soon... For something super fun too!

xo, Steph

GIVEAWAY!! GIVEAWAY!! GIVEAWAY!! Wooh!

Guess what folks?!? It's my 100th blog post. And what am I gonna do with that post? Well I'll tell you. I'm going to have a giveaway! I'm so excited! This is my first (and hopefully not last) giveaway on the blog.

So remember last week when I posted about the super rad Lesley's new Etsy shop? Well... I did... and its new... and you should check it out. The poster prints are awesome! I can't wait to get mine. I'm ordering the Love print (the one of the far right) and its going right up on my shelf above the couch, along with some photos from our shoot with Will. I'll say its the best idea ever, even though I'm totally un-original and I'm stealing the idea from right in her picture. hehe. Anyway... I don't want you to feel left out so I'm giving one away. Its your choice, you can get the Joy print (which is lovely), the Sunshine print (which will make the clouds go away but this is not a fact so don't sue me) or the LOVE print (which I'm getting) So it's you choice. You have 5 ways to enter. So get to entering! This is open until Monday 2/20/12 midnight EST.   

P.S. Rafflecopter is helping me present this super fun entry system soooo make sure to click I DID THIS after each entry otherwise your entries wont get counted and you wont win and you'll be sad!


a Rafflecopter giveaway  Subscribe in a reader


P.P.S. I'll post about Valentines Day tomorrow for now I'm a little distracted with a sick kitty.  Here is me and the babe at the Cat Dr. He looks so sad with his cold. On a side note I didn't even know kitties could get colds. But he has an Upper Respiratory Infection... they think. For now he's on antibiotics after that we'll see.

 

xo, Steph