vacation

Eating In Italy

Half the fun of vacation is eating the food, and since my recent trips have been to countries where you have to be careful what you eat and you need to sterilize the water, I was thrilled to be going to Italy.

I’ll admit that I ate gelato every day, sometimes twice a day, sometimes wrapped in a crepe. Matt was attempting to eat pizza everyday and I tried to help him achieve this goal for perhaps four or five days in a row. Portions are smaller, the food is fresher, and nutella is treated like a God. Truffles are delicious.

The food is an important part of meals, for sure, but […]

Eating In ItalyMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:32:11-04:00

Plank in Italy

So while I’ll admit I didn’t do as much Pilates in Italy as I might have liked, I did take time to do a side plank in front of the Colosseum! Every vacation I intend to take a shot of me doing Pilates somewhere significant and every vacation I forget, but not this one.

Where is the coolest place you’ve done plank?

Plank in ItalyMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:32:11-04:00

A Healthy Fourth

Here are some tips for a healthy Fourth of July:

Play volleyball with friends and family (kids are usually up for this)
If you have multiple picnics, only eat one dessert during the whole day
Drink lots of water
Wear sunscreen (or a hat)
Get friends together and go for a walk or a run
Take five minutes to breathe
Make time to do something you really want with the long weekend
Start each day with 20 minutes of your favorite Pilates exercises
Stop eating before you feel full
Laugh

A Healthy FourthMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:32:13-04:00

Thomas Jefferson’s Exercise Habits

I went to Monticello last weekend (a place I’ve always wanted to get to, especially since the HBO John Adams film came out). Our docent was wonderful and I asked about Jefferson’s exercise habits.

She said he was really into balance and that after studying for about 8 hours (he usually studied about 15 hours total per day) he would go for about a mile run. I’m not sure that is super balanced–eight hours of studying to 10 minutes of running, but it is still pretty cool. He also rode his horse a lot. Now what I’m most impressed with is that he ran and I’m intrigued to know what he ran in. Did he go barefoot or was he in a pair of leather and buckle shoes?

She also said that he ate very small portions, mostly vegetables although he did eat meat and loved dessert. You can see he was a man of small portions in the image above, which reflects his actual size.

I, for one, am intrigued to know more.

Thomas Jefferson’s Exercise HabitsMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:35:23-04:00

Machu Picchu

I spent the past three weeks traveling in Peru. The first week we hiked the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu–a place as magical and mystical as everyone says and pictures attempt to show. The stone city rivals the pyramids. Machu Picchu may not be the engineering feat the pyramids were, but resting high on the peaks of the Andes where misty clouds glide in and out, it certainly feels more relatable. People lived here; they didn’t just get buried here.

Getting to Machu Picchu via the Inca Trail was a challenge, but made the arrival even better. Camping in the Andes for three nights provided some of the best views I’ve ever gone to sleep with. I haven’t stayed in any hotel that provides views of snow capped mountains and waterfalls with brooks so loud you can’t hear anything but water cascading down rocks. Until morning. Somehow roosters overtake the sound of water.

It is a journey I would recommend.

Machu PicchuMaggie Downie2017-10-25T14:26:05-04:00