Tips for a successful engagement shoot, and a famous pinterest arm video of mine!

It always gets me excited when people tell me they see my videos or pictures or blog posts floating around Pinterest. This video, in particular, has made a presence around the site. Maybe you have seen it before?  It works and I love it! http://youtu.be/VA1fDQyI7-I

One of the biggest things for me during my wedding planning was finding a good photographer. It is something that years after your wedding you will look at and hopefully share with friends, family, and your kids... EEEEK!  After much research and looking through so many wedding blogs I found a photographer that I love. Abby Lorenz. I love her because her pictures are not the ordinary, and they all tell a story. Here are some shots from our engagement shoot. We were lucky enough to have an easy going photographer in which we felt comfortable. Chemistry is key!  Here are a few more tips before you take your engagement shots:

*All photos were taken by Abby Lorenz Photography! She is available for hire!

I love the pictures in front of your apartment door. It's a must! (If you live together) Or at least visit a place that you both love. A restaurant? Bar? Park?  A special tree?

Props are fun. Grab something that you both can play around with. It will make posing less awkward and you can focus your attention on something else.

Walk and talk. You both know how to do this. If you just walk the streets of your town or you "hood" you will feel comfortable. OK it is a little odd having someone follow you around with a camera, but if you are like me that's a dream come true! For my fiance, more like a nightmare  Anyway, try to pretend that it is just the two of you. You do not always have to pose. I LOVE streets pics. Stop in the middle of the road. Look both ways first!!!

Use your environment and get a little silly and creative. We saw a ledge and right away Abby said "hop on up"! We had so much fun and it created an easy flirty environment.

Use Pinterest for ideas! I did. We had a "chalk fight"!  What a blast! And the pictures came out awesome.

What are your passions? What do you love to do ? Do you both run? Paint? Golf? Fish? I love to dance. So that is what I did. We ended up with some great shots. If you do something you love it will come natural!

Lastly, the one leg up picture! So cute and sassy. Try it!

I filmed two new VIDEOS for you this week. Stay tuned will post soon :)

San Francisco hills, make a run that much harder

I was away this past week in San Francisco visiting family

friends

and wine.

During my vacation I made sure to get in 4 days of a full workout. Two of those days were spent running the hills of San Francisco. HOLY MOLY. Seriously awesome. I would walk fast up one hill and then sprint up another, I was exhausted in no time. I am not a fan of inclines on treadmills so the natural hills were a real challenge. The workout was just what I needed to switch up my regular routine!  Check out these hills:

The other day consisted of hiking/ walking a scenic trail

and my last day was my first pilates reformer class!

Have you ever tried the reformer? Did you like it?

Oh, one more thing... humor me and do a solid minute of what I call standing twist oblique work. Some tips on form:

• keep your knees together
• twist your upper body in the opposite direction than your hips are going
• pull your stomach in tight and use your arms to help you get some movement
• jump like you have never jumped before

Enjoy and feel those obliques working!

homemade ice cream... no ice cream maker needed!

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Who loves ICE CREAM?! With a little experimentation and fun I created homemade ice cream. Excuse the image quality, I was shaking with happiness when I realized what I had just made.

Ingredients:

* The following measurements are approximate. This is the first time I made this ice cream,  and I didn't measure anything. So feel free to switch around the measurements, and do what is best for you. My camera man did not think the ice cream was sweet enough but I thought it was fine. The first couple of bites might have tasted a little like play-dough, but whatever.. it was homemade and I was happy!

• 1/4 C almond milk (I bet you could use regular milk as well)
• 1 tbs vanilla extract
• 2 tbs sugar ( I did not use any, but if you like it a little sweet I would add some)
• 3 zip lock bags (freezer kind if possible)
• ice cubes
• salt (lowers the freezing point of the ice cubes)

Directions:

• Mix the almond milk, vanilla extract and sugar in zip lock bag. I would put it in a thick freezer kind, just so no leaks occur, but no big deal if you do not have them. Squeeze all the air out of the bag and seal.
• Place your zip lock bag in another zip lock bag. Make sure all air is squeezed out of both bags! Seal it up.
• Place both bags in ANOTHER zip lock bag, but to this one add plenty of ice and salt, so that it surrounds the other bag filled with the almond milk mixture. Seal.

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Grab a towel to wrap around the zip lock bags and begin to shake, does NOT have to be furious. Just get the mixture moving a little. Do this for about 5 minutes. Then place in freezer for about 5 minutes, then pull out and shake for another 5 minutes. This is what I did and then end product was awesome. I am not sure if it is necessary to put back in the freezer, but I was tired of mixing it around and thought putting it in the freezer would be the best place while I rested before I started my mixing again.

Check the mixture and continue to move it around until you see it becoming more solid... it is such an exciting feeling when you realized you have made ice cream!!!

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When your mixture is more or less solid(ish) take it out of the two bags, and then cut a little corner off of the last bag containing your ice cream . Squeeze contents out... and there you have it :)

Sexy and I know it choreography

Have fun!  And Sweat it out! [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1ZMjQ9CrLk]

And when you think you can NOT hold a plank...

Think of this

Send me pictures of you holding a Plank! Post them on my facebook page "sweat with lauren hefez"