Product/Service Review: Oak City Cycling Project

Ok, this review doesn't actually help me be a better domestic, but I feel I should mention this bike shop. As you may know if you follow my fitness exploits, I'm in training for a triathlon. When I started training, I had to get a bike because I didn't own one. An Internet search led me here:

I was looking for a used bike, but I wanted something that was still good quality. I emailed the guys at Oak City Cycling Project and told them about my training. After asking my height, the person helping me thought they might have something that would suit my triathlon purposes. So, I went to the shop and "tried on" a few bikes to find the one that fit me. None of the bikes that were ready were quite right, but they had a Gitane that needed a little work that fit me perfectly. He told me it would be ready in about a week, and that I would get an email to come look at it when it was ready.

True to his word, I received an email in about a week, and I went to take the Gitane on a test spin. After a quick seat adjustment, I was ready for my first ride. Instantly, I was in love with the bike. It was the most comfortable bike I had ever ridden. Seeing as how all my other bikes had been department store or hand-me-downs, I had no idea that bikes could fit so comfortably to an individual. And the fact that it is a nice looking bike didn't hurt either.

As is evidenced by this post, I'm quite pleased with my bike purchase and doubly pleased with the excellent service I received at Oak City Cycling Project. I highly recommend them to anyone in the Raleigh area who is looking to find a great bike at a decent price.

Product/Service Review: Yonanas

I've been trying to decide what I would do for my product/service review today. Then I realized that I posted a little about my new Yonanas machine on my rat sundaes post. I never finished all the praise I wanted to lavish upon this little kitchen appliance, so I figured today would be a good day to do my review for Yonanas.

I first saw this little machine when I was doing a little gift shopping at Bed, Bath & Beyond. Usually, I don't really stop to take a look at little appliances because 1) I don't have a whole lot of counter space and 2) most of the small appliances that are "invented" these days are a little gimmicky. At first, I thought this little machine fit the gimmicky description. After all, it's big selling point is that it makes ice cream out of frozen bananas. Big deal! I have a blender at home. I can already accomplish that. But I kept thinking about this little gadget, and I decided to look up some reviews on it. People seemed to really like it.



Ice cream is my one true dessert weakness. Right now, I have two cupcakes and some cookies just hanging out on my desk, and I don't feel the need to shove them in my face. But if there was a pint of Ben & Jerry's staring at me, I can't honestly say I would have the willpower to resist. So, in general, I don't keep ice cream in the house. I do sorely miss it. So, after reading the reviews and witnessing what happens to frozen fruit in my blender (it liquifies it more than crushing it into a creamy texture), I started fixating on getting a Yonanas. I didn't want to just go out and buy one. I figured I could wait to get one for Christmas. It was a long wait, but after I made my first Yonanas treat with my new Christmas present, I was very happy.

I don't think this picture really does it justice, but the texture is definitely creamy like ice cream. I haven't tried other frozen fruits in the machine, so I can't say for sure that all fruits would have this consistency. In fact, I'm fairly certain many of them would not. But the natural creaminess of a banana lends itself to being pulvarized into a soft-serve delight.

I found the picture above online. This is a great picture of the inner workings of the Yonanas. The blade is a conical shape with what looks like julienne blades. I reminds me a lot of one of the blade attachments I have on my mandolin. The banana is pushed into the black tube and pressed down with the black plunger that matches the shape of the tube. As the conical blades spin, it pulvarizes the banana into a creamy consistency that starts to ooze from the outspout (I'm just making up descriptions as I go along).

 

At first, I felt a little cheated by the amount of frozen soft-serve banana that came out of the machine. But once I took the machine apart, I found the banana reserve inside, which I happily scraped off to add to my bowl of frozen goodness.

 

My Yonanas came with a preparation book to give me ideas on other yummy frozen treats to make. But honestly, I didn't even have to consult it to know what I wanted to try first: frozen banana mixed with peanut butter and chocolate (my favorite flavor combination). I used one tablespoon of peanut butter, one frozen banana and a serving of Walden Farms chocolate syrup. That's dessert for only 200 calories. Not bad considering how crazy fattening and calorie-heavy most desserts are. Had I grated a Hershey's Kiss for the chocolate content in this dish, I would have netted 223 calories. Still not too shabby. I plan to incorporate the Hershey's Kiss in a future dessert.

Some other fruits I think I want to try that may offer me a creamy texture like the bananas do are mango, peaches and avocado. I'm a little afraid of the avocado, but I think if I use it in moderation and pair some other fun fruits with it, it could be sensational.

So, if you haven't guessed yet, I highly recommend getting a Yonanas if you are an ice cream fan like me. I don't use it every day, but whenever I feel the little tickle of an ice cream craving, it's comforting to know I have a healthy option at the ready.

Product/Service Review: Fitness Connection

I'll admit, I don't have a whole lot to compare this to, so this will probably seem very biased. As you know if you read my fitness blog, I exercise on a daily basis. Some days, I just do my own thing at home be it biking, running or something else that will get the blood pumping. But otherwise, I spend most of my workout time at the gym. The gym that I joined a little less than a year ago is Fitness Connection.

There was only one reason that I joined this gym when I decided to make the commitment to gym membership: location. This particular gym has a location less than a 5-minute drive from where I work. That means that I can spend my lunch hour huffing and puffing through a routine, get a shower to knock off the sweat and be back at work fresh as a daisy (with no time to spare, of course).

I'll be honest. I was expecting my gym membership to be a colossal waste of money. After all, when I joined, I had never had a gym membership before, I hated exercising and I wasn't particularly motivated to work out (even though I was motivated to follow a strict diet). But I immediately allowed myself to be talked into working with a personal trainer once a week. Of course, it was more money to take advantage of this offer, but I felt I might get more out of my gym time if I had a professional showing me how it's done.

Getting a personal trainer was a challenge for me. I always imagined personal trainers to be like this:

Most everyone knows that Jillian Michaels puts the "tense" in the words intense personal trainer. I just assumed this was the norm: if you have a personal trainer, you are basically paying to be bullied and belittled (two B words I can do without). Luckily, this has not been my experience. I've had two personal trainers since joining the gym, and they have both been excellent. Instead of bullying me, I actually feel like they are cheering me on as I do my session. I can't speak for all the trainers there, but my personal experience has been quite positive.

Another incentive to keep me staying at this gym is this:

When I found out that some of their locations offer swimming pools, I was very happy. I like to swim, and I know it's a great workout without a lot of impact. Now, I've lost enough weight that I don't have much trouble with equipment and classes at the gym. But before then, I liked having the weightless option of swimming to help shed the pounds. I definitely take advantage of the pool now that I'm training for a triathlon. This pool pictured is my buddy, and we bond twice a week, very early in the morning.

While I only attend one class that my gym offers, they do have a very extensive class schedule. When I first joined, I told the person enrolling me that I was interested in doing classes the gym offers. I find it ironic that now I only do one class and can otherwise occupy myself during my workouts. But I do have to say, the class I attend is a great one. I like doing the Sculpting class because toning my body definitely appeals to me.

In addition to the appeal of a lean, strong body, the instructor is amazing. He is not only incredibly helpful during the workouts, but he plays awesome music. There are so many classes that just play that upbeat, top 40 crap. I'm happy to be pumping iron to Ozzy and Zombie and Black Label Society (among many others). But other than the music, the fact that he's involved and always shows us how to lift the weights and what muscles to target is fabulous. I've been in some classes where the instructor never leaves the front of the room. He or she is just shouting "You can do it!" and "Good job!" Well, how do you know I can do it or if I'm doing a good job if you never set foot outside of your instructor box? Sometimes I just think people become fitness class instructors so that they can get their workout completed.

Anyway, that's not really the point of this post. The point is that I really like Fitness Connection as my gym, and I'm so glad that I chose it when I was seeking a workout center.

Product/Service Review: FedEx Printing

Normally, I wouldn't write a blog entry about a corporate giant (like FedEx), but I have to say I'm quite impressed with the quality of work I received from them for a collage I had printed on photo paper.

I use FedEx quite regularly for shipping, but I've never used them for any kind of personal printing I've done in the past. Normally, I would just print my own stuff on my printer at home. Unfortunately, that wasn't an option for this particular project. Basically, at the end of every year, I compile all the pictures I've taken with work colleagues throughout the year. Then, I print the collage to hang in my office. It makes me happy to look up at all the fun I've had with my co-workers over the previous year. I only started doing this since I started work at FMI. My collage for 2011 wasn't very big because I began working for the company in August. I was able to print that collage on my home printer. But I had a lot more pictures for my 2012 collage.

I know it's hard to tell in this little picture, but we definitely had a lot of fun in 2012 (or at least, I did).

I ordered a frame for my collage a few weeks ago, but I've been putting off ordering the actual photo print. I found a couple of places online that offered printing, but I kept having trouble with those places. My photo is 12 x 18, and a lot of the places online didn't offer that size as an option. I was in the process of trying to print via Walgreens, but the site kept saying my picture was too low quality. Hello...all you accept is jpg format. Of course it isn't going to be great quality. I needed a printer who could print from a pdf, where my collage looked crisp and clear. I was about to give up hope when I remembered that FedEx is for more than shipping.

From the FedEx Office site, I was able to upload my file, specify a custom size and place my order within a 5-minute (or less) time frame. I never even had to call the store. The online ordering system made everything so incredibly easy. I did get a call from the FedEx store that was handling my order to ask if I needed a proof, which I appreciated but thought wasn't necessary.

The final good point I can bring up about FedEx is that they completed my order before noon the following day. I had submitted my order around 5 p.m. and almost 18 hours later, my project was complete. It wasn't a rush job, but they certainly didn't waste any time on it. And the price of $25 was reasonable considering I had a custom request.

*Note: I'm only recommending FedEx if you have a small project (like my one picture). If you have a large project, I would recommend going to a local, professional print shop. Cliff works at a great print shop in the area, but I would have never bothered him with a job as insignificant as printing my collage. That's what FedEx is for.

Product/Service Review: Element Bars

This post will seem very similar to my post last week. It is for a food product, particularly one that is ordered online. However, unlike my GoBites review, Element Bars are not a recurring snack delivery service. They are simply a food product (i.e., granola/energy bars) that you can order from their website (click here to access).

What makes Element Bars so different than the ordinary granola/energy bar you might buy at any grocery or convenience store is the fact that they are customizable. They offer fresh, normal ingredients that you can mix and match to create the perfect snack (or breakfast or lunch, if you prefer).

I first discovered Element Bars through my calorie/activity logging site, Calorie Count. Being an active member of Calorie Count comes with rewards in the form of points. You get points by submitting daily reports, commenting or liking other people's reports and participating in the discussion forum. Here's a snapshot of my current rewards:

As you can see, I've amassed quite a few points. Calorie Count has partnered with some other companies/websites to offer fun products to members at a discounted price. You can redeem these discounts by turning in the points. So, one day I decided to redeem some of my points on custom made Element Bars.

I was a little skeptical of how good they would be. I'm kind of picky when it comes to my granola/energy bars. I've had some in the past that had a clay texture, and I really dislike that. So, I kind of hated to blindly purchase a case of Element Bars. But the ingredients sounded good, so I thought I would take the gamble.

My Element Bars arrived in a package like this:

I love when the box is printed with the company name. It makes me so excited when I'm opening it, especially when it's a new treat. So, when I got the package I couldn't wait to try one of the granola bars. Here's what I ordered.

You may be thinking, "What the heck is a Chocolate Elvis?" It's one of my creations. As I've mentioned before, my favorite flavor combination is peanut butter, chocolate and banana. So, I was happy to see that those ingredients were available when I was creating my own granola bar. It's like I devised a recipe online, and some little Element Bar elves baked it up and sent it over to me. And the cool thing is that I got to name my creation, and they printed the package with the name I chose. It is custom printed with the name of the bar, the nutrition information and the ingredient list. So, since I chose peanut butter and banana, I had to give a little tribute to the King of Rock and Roll. My dad would have been proud.

But if you're not creative or feel a little timid about trying to choose your own flavor of bar, you can still try out Element Bars. They have a stock of premade bars that are very delicious as well. When I purchased my Chocolate Elvis, I also got one of their stock bars to try as well. I decided to sample their Chocolate Cherry bar.

It was good, but I definitely liked my creation better. So, this is a product/service that I definitely recommend you try if you like granola bars. It's the perfect little treat to have on the go. I've definitely carried bars with me before workouts and bike rides.

Product/Service Review: GoBites

For my first product/service review, I just have to talk about GoBites. GoBites is actually a snack delivery company you can access online. Since I've been on my weight loss journey, I always want to make sure that I'm making healthy choices with food. I saw an ad for GoBites on the site where I log my weight loss, and once I checked out the GoBites website, I knew it was a service (and product) I wanted to try.

Signing up is easy. Basically, you just register for the site and choose which snacks you want to try. Then you choose how many you want to get, and you are signed up for a service that will replenish your snacks every 2 weeks. Another plus is that their snacks are organic. So, you're being doubly healthy by choosing wholesome snacks without any harmful ingredients.

After signing up, your GoBites will be packaged and shipped in the next day or so. They'll arrive to your home in a box like this.

When I first ordered my GoBites, I just requested a bunch of different ones. Now, that I've tried them, I know some of the ones I really like and some of the ones that really don't tickle my fancy. So, if you want more of one thing and you want to try something you haven't had before, it's easy to go in your profile to change your snack options. Here's one of my favorites because it has fruit, nuts and chocolate (yum yum).

If you're a calorie counter (like me), then you'll definitely have to plan your days better if you opt to have these snacks. They average around 200 calories per pack (some more, some less). But to me, it's worth it. They give me the boost of energy I need when I hit the mid-morning slump and need it for my pending lunchtime workout. So, I highly recommend these snacks to anyone looking for better options than cookies, chips and other processed crap. The convenience of having these delivered is great, and I haven't had to buy any snacks at the grocery store since I signed up with this service.

What Lies Ahead

Hello, beautiful people. First, a big thank you for anyone out there who has been reading my blog. I feel it has been a little lackluster as it is mainly a recipe blog with a little pet care and refashioning thrown in for a good measure. When I created this blog, I wanted it to chronicle lots of different domestic things. Seeing as how I'm an amateur, I wanted to start teaching myself how to be a better domestic. After all, I'm getting married this year, and I aim to be a good wifey. But my blog has suffered from a lack of direction. So, I'm ready to give it some direction.

But unlike in the image above, I don't want to take us down random paths. I want my readers (if there actually are any out there) to know what to expect from day to day. So, here is a breakdown of how I plan to publish my blog in the future (starting today).

Sunday
Sundays will be my day to blog about housekeeping duties. I'm going to call this "Tidying", and in these posts, I hope to not only show awesome pictures as I transform my house from dump to dope, but also to make comments about cleaning products or methods that I'm using.

Get ready for lots of before and after images.

Monday

I'm devoting my Mondays to my special little furry friends. And since I have so many different types of animals, there will be lots of interesting "Pet Care" posts to peruse. I'm planning on using these posts for recipes, cool toys and supplies that I might make for my animals, but as long as what I'm doing is in the best interest of my furballs, you never know what you might see on here.

I wish my pups would stand still long enough for me to get a shot like this.

Tuesday

My recipes will make their appearance on Tuesdays. I'm still labeling my recipes as "Clean Eating" because I'm striving to cook that way. If, for some reason, a recipe I create isn't as clean as it could be, I'll offer a suggestion on how to clean up whatever offending ingredient sullies the dish. 

Wholesome ingredients makes cooking fun (and challenging).

Wednesday 

Unfortunately, creativity doesn't always strike me in the kitchen. If I could, I would make an original "Stephanie" dish every night. But, then I would probably be making mostly pasta dinners with variations on sauces, and I so want to be more creative than that. So, Wednesdays will be my "Recipe Review" days. I'll pick a random recipe (be it appetizer, side dish, entree or dessert) and give my opinion of it (i.e., ease of cooking, taste, expectations, etc.). I'll also link to it in case anyone else wants to give it a whirl.

Welcome to my virtual recipe box.

Thursday

While I'm in a reviewing mode, I've decided that on Thursdays, I will offer a review about a product or service. I probably won't be reviewing restaurants, but otherwise, the door is wide open for any kind of review. I'll try to stick to things that will help me become a better domestic, but really, if I feel the product or service warrants my comments, then I'll certainly post them with my Thursday thoughts.

I'll try not to be a whiner in my reviews.

Friday

Everyone loves a great deal, right? My problem is that I rarely take advantage of good deals. So, I'm devoting my Fridays to posting about great deals I've found. These can be coupons, restaurant deals...basically, anything that's going to help me save a buck (or my sanity).

Feel free to send me deals. I'm not so good at always finding them.

Saturday

And last but not least are my Saturday refashions. I'm waiting until Saturday to do my refashioning because I feel like it will probably take me some time to do those projects. But I'm really looking forward to getting back into it. The two things I made were so exciting, that I can't wait to get those creative sewing juices flowing again.

  That's Jillian, the refashionista. Her blog is what inspired me to start refashioning.

So, that's my week. And I'm always open to suggestions for things to do or try on any of these days.