January 2021 - The Blonde Side

French Bulldog in white hoodie sweatshirt

Top 5 Amazon Finds: January

Another month in the house means another month of online shopping, and Amazon wins again. For January, below are my top five Amazon purchases. This post does contain affiliate links, but all opinions and thoughts are truly mine. So happy shopping and let me know in the comments if you’ve recently bought anything from Amazon that you absolutely love!

French Bulldog Hoodie – This was one of the best $16 purchases I’ve made on Amazon, because Perry loves new clothes. It comes in a few colors and Perry actually doesn’t mind wearing this at all, which is perfect for the winter. I can’t remember what size we got him, but I think a medium. I’ve learned with dog clothes to either take a minute to measure them (their chest and length mostly) or buy something that has free shipping and free returns. Trust me, that will see you a ton of money on dog clothes!

Daily Pill Organizer – Maybe you’ll think I’m 80 with this purchase, but instead of bringing all my pills and supplements when I travel, this is so much easier. For $5.99, I have no clue why I didn’t do this sooner.

Dragon Fit Super Soft Joggers – These are exactly like my lululemon align joggers, except of spending $98 on a pair, you are spending $28. I got the olive green and will definitely be ordering more. These tapered yoga sweatpants are a huge Amazon find that I had to share. Thanks to my friend Katie for sharing this great find with me. You can get these in a ton of colors, patterns, and even capri yoga pants.

Probiotics for Men and Women – I’ve been taking this Probiotic for years, so thought I’d share this good find. There are tons on the market and you have to find the right Probiotic for you, but I highly recommend this one, especially if you have GI issues.

Trio of COVID-19 Vitamins – I was recommended to take these three vitamins together to fight against COVID or to help you get over it faster, and both Jason and I have been taking these three for the past two months.

You’ll want Vitamin C (we got the gummies!), Vitamin D3, and Zinc Supplement. You can buy all three for $34 and free shipping, so get on it!

Check out my top Amazon finds for last month including some of my favorite Amazon bikinis under $25.

January 28, 2021/by Jayme

Meat Delivery Helps To Save Time

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Best Online Meat Delivery

My motto for the past few years has been to work smarter, not harder. And that goes for every area of my life, including what we eat for dinner and planning our meals out.

I want to introduce you to my favorite meat delivery service that isn’t only easy, it’s affordable and delicious.

Ordering Meat Online

Whether you have a strong dislike for the grocery store like me or are just trying to order more things online for your safety, ordering meat online has never been easier than Good Ranchers.

You can easily order steaks online in just a few steps. Visit their online meat shop, choose from one of their four curated boxes (The Cattleman meat box is my favorite), choose if you want to order just one time to check it out, or if you want a subscription, which saves you 20% off their already affordable prices.

You can order a box every 4, 6, or 8 weeks depending how fast you go through the meat. We usually get The Cattleman box, and it usually lasts Jason and I about two months, and we eat it a lot. Rest assured there is a ton of meat shipped with each box. The boxes are also easy to share, so if you have too much or need to make room in your freezer, you can give some to your neighbors, parents, or anyone else who likes to grill and cook at home.

Order Meat Online In 4 Easy Steps

Pick one of the four curated meat boxes (they even have an all chicken box, if you don’t like steak or red meat)
Choose if you want a one-time order or a recurrring subscription (you can save on the meat packages by signing up for a subscription)
Choose how often you want it delivered
Sit back and wait for the meat delivery to show up on your doorstep

Meat Box Subscription Options

Meat Delivery

As I mentioned, there are four boxes to choose from, listed out below, along with their current pricing (which is subject to change):

Rancher’s Classic: $139 Subscription, $169 One-Time
The Cattleman: $160 Subscription, $199 One-Time (Most Popular)
All-Natural Chicken Pack: $120 Subscription, $149 One-Time
Family Feast Bundle: $229 Subscription, $275 One-Time

Steak On Sale (Promo Code Included)

Looking for a promo code to order your online meat delivery? Use code BLOGGER25 for $25 off your first order, and remember that every order comes with FREE shipping. The meat boxes are delivered via FedEx, so you’ll get tracking info along the way, and all the meat is top quality, sourced from local farms and ranches, and is frozen and vacuum sealed, so it’s easy to store the meat in your freezer right when you get it. Every piece of meat (steak, chicken, and pork) is individually packaged, so all you have to do is open the box and put it in the freezer. It couldn’t be any easier, which is also super helpful for meal prepping.

Grass Finished Beef Delivery

What Kind Of Meat Comes In The Meat Packages?

All of Good Ranchers meats are premium cuts and all are locally sourced, rather than coming from overseas like many of their competitors.

You’ll get premium grass-fed grain-finished beef delivered to your doorstep, along with all-natural chicken that is 100% Cornish.

Read more about the health benefits of grass-fed grain-finished beef.

I love these meat delivery boxes because they include USDA graded meat you can trust, which is important to me. I’m a big proponent of knowing where you food comes from, especially meat.

Good Ranchers goes a step further than any of their competitors as they get their meat graded by the USDA and only offer USDA Grades: Prime and Choice. I feel confident I am getting the best American beef, chicken, and pork every time a new meat delivery arrives.

Ways To Make Steak Night More Fun

Not that I personally need a reason to make steak night any more fun, because it’s one of my favorites, but I am trying to up my wine pairing game, so I use steak night as a great excuse. I love these steak and wine pairing tips, which give tips on how to make dinner at home feel like you’re at a fancy restaurant, when it reality I had my meat delivered at home and am eating this delicious meal in sweatpants. No judgement, ok?

I also included these meat boxes in my three must-have products for entertaining.

Ready To Get Your Meal Delivery?

If you’re ready to have premium, quality steaks delivered to your front door without ever having to leave your house, order Good Ranchers today. Be sure to use code BLOGGER25 for $25 off your first order, and tell a friend. In fact, these meat packages make the perfect gift for anyone.

January 19, 2021/by Jayme

Easy Fried Oreo Recipe

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Easy Fried Oreo Recipe

If there are two things I love – it’s Oreos and simplicity. This easy Fried Oreo Recipe is one of my most viewed Pinterest recipes, and I also shared it on Instagram reels, so check those out if you’re more of a visual person.

Fried Oreo Recipe With Five Ingredients

You just need five ingredients for this Fried Oreo Recipe: Oreos (obviously), milk (any kind, even soy will work), refrigerated crescent rolls, nonstick spray, and powdered sugar.

The tools you need: an air fryer, a pair of cooking tongs, and an appetite.

Fried Oreo Recipe: In Six Minutes

Take an Oreo, dip it in milk, then wrap it in one of the Crescent roll triangles – cover it so none of the Oreo is showing. Repeat for desired amount of Oreos, then spray your nonstick spray in the air fryer.

Set the temperature to 370 and the timer for 6 minutes. Once the air fryer beeps, use the tongs to carefully remove the Oreos and immediately sprinkle with desired amount of powdered sugar.

Be careful as Fried Oreos will be hot, and even though I have a major sweet tooth, I can usually only eat one. I have made this recipe for just one or two before, you can even re-refrigerate the unused crescent rolls in a ziplock bag and use for the next night.

Also, I blame the Houston Rodeo for my obsession with fried Oreos. If you’ve never had one from a state fair, definitely embrace the calories and do it (though these air fryer Oreos I’m sharing today are pretty dang close).

Here’s the Amazon air fryer I have and highly recommend it. It’s simple to use, doesn’t take up a ton of space in our pantry, and I use it for everything.

Told you this recipe was short and sweet, so enjoy and let me know if you have any questions or any Oreo recipes I should try next!

January 17, 2021/by Jayme

The Best Free Fitness Apps

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The Best Free Fitness Apps

Whether you’re looking for something to get you through this quarantine 15 or prefer to workout at home, my travel and time on the road has had me relying on fitness apps for quite a while. Now that I’m only able to workout at home, thanks to this pandemic, I’ve added a few new favorite fitness apps to my rotation.

When your living room is your gym, you can still see results, I promise. Finding motivation is another thing though, so hopefully these free fitness apps will help motivate you. You probably will find one you love more than others, so save that and make it front and center on your phone, and set workout alerts and reminders.

5 of the Best Free Fitness Apps

FitOn: I was watching some random Denver news show and this app came on, so I downloaded it. This is literally a “full gym in your pocket” like they claim. They may have a pay version, but the one I’ve been using for the past month is completely free. It takes about 5 minutes to sign up (they want your weight, your favorite type of workout, etc.) so they can create a semi-customized workout plan for you. I have loved all the workouts and truth be told, I did one of the HIIT workouts, and it was the first time in SIX WEEKS I was sore the next day. I think that is really saying something! BONUS: You can snag a work out with some special guests like Gabrielle Union and Jonathan Van Ness. Almost a full year into quarantine and I still use this one regularly.
Nike Training Club: I have blogged about this favorite free app for quite some time, but it’s a constant in my rotation. I love this app because like many of them, you can browse by muscle group, workout type (i.e. endurance, mobility, strength, yoga) or by equipment (for the times when you’re in a hotel room with no weights, etc.). This helps me get straight to the workout I need without going down a rabbit hole trying to find the right one. You can also browse by “short workouts” to find workouts as short as 5, 6 or 7-minutes long, perhaps if you have a few minutes before jumping in the shower, or before heading to happy hour!
Map My Fitness by Under Armour: There are some great, free preset workouts you can use on this app, but I think the biggest benefit here is for people who are runners or who are motivated by data. You can track your progress at the gym, compare your run to last week’s run, and more. You can also initiate challenges with friends and serve as a way to motivate you both.
Adidas Training by Runtastic: This is another great free fitness app that is easy to use. Any
Free Fitness Apps To Download Now

fitness apps with easy-to-find “no equipment workouts” are usually my favorites, because sometimes I’m at a park and have 20-minutes I want to workout. I can’t always carry dumbbells around in my gym bag, right? They start by asking what your fitness goal is – you can choose from get fit, stay healthy, lose weight, or build muscle. As elementary as this may sound, it’s a huge way to set yourself up for success. Once you answer a few simple questions, they “optimize” your workout plan based on your answers. I also love Adidas for running shoes, and love their online sales. They also have an app specific to runners where they partner with Runtastic, so check that out if you’re looking to make some strides as a runner.
7 Minute Workout: For those who say they don’t have time to workout, the joke’s on you. This workout takes (you guessed it) only 7 minutes, and it’s another no equipment workout. If you don’t want to take my word for it, this app has a 4.8 rating out of 65k reviews, so others are big fans of this free fitness app too. When my knee is acting up, I choose the “no jumping” workouts, to ensure I can make it through the entire 7-minutes. If you find you have extra time, try doing a few in a row and go beast mode.

Here’s another article with 33 fitness apps to check out in 2021 like Stacked, which is a free weight training app that I’ve become a fan of. Also check out Shred415 in Castle Rock if you’re looking for in-person HIIT classes in Castle Rock. I am so lucky my gym is back open and the fact they do an awesome LIVESTREAM, which I highly recommend. It’s a small fee per class online, but well worth it.

* Bodypeace: This is an app devoted to wellness and fitness, created by a Houston gal pal named Lizzie. There is a paid version for this, but there are also some great freebies, and what I love most about this app is the signup process. Not only is it quick and easy, but they ask what you do a lot of – not just dance, cardio, HIIT, etc. but do you sit at a desk all day or travel for work? She puts together easy to follow fitness routines that are good for you, more than just working out. *Note, this is a mostly paid app, but wanted to include it because supporting fellow boss babes who make wellness a priority is big!

Especially during quarantine, I encourage you to see what apps your friends and celebs you follow. Many of the normally pay-for fitness apps are offering 30-90 free trials, so it’s worth a shot. Also, I’m a firm believer in paying for your fitness if you need to. If you find an app that’s $13/month and it motivates and keeps you on track, I think that is $13 well spent. So spend this time trying out a few free apps, seeing if you can do online fitness competitions with friends and family and go from there.

Check out this free workout you can do at home, as long as you have a deck of cards. This is one of my favorites and it always kick my booty!

Good luck and stay strong.

Be sure to my blog post sharing workouts from home and apartment workout tips.

January 10, 2021/by Jayme

Top 5 Amazon Purchases in December

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The past few months have been a whirlwind, but I wanted to share my favorite recent purchases on Amazon (and goodness knows, I made a lot of them last month thanks to the holidays). Check them out below, along with my honest reviews. if you like what you see, please use the links (these are affiliate links, but still my honest opinions and reviews).

Leopard Bikini for $25 – I have never bought a bikini on Amazon until this one, and I am hooked. For starters, it was only $25, and the best part is it was free shipping and free returns, so there was nothing to lose here. I wore this on our recent trip to the Conrad Punta de Mita (travel article coming soon) and got so many compliments.

7/8 Camo Yoga Pants – When I say these 7/8 high-waisted yoga pants are identical in look and feel to my Lululemon align leggings, I am not kidding you. They look and feel just like my lulu leggings and the price is $29 compared to $98 at lulu. Hurry and grab these ASAP. These are probably my best Amazon find all year. For reference, I usually wear these as leggings for errands, traveling and yoga, not necessarily HIIT workouts. Nothing wrong with using them for any workout, just my personal preference.

Large Candle Warmer – Recently I posted an Instagram story about Capri candles and how they never burn correctly and I was amazed at the response of others who encountered this problem. So many of you deal with the same issue and were so mad that you wasted all that money on expensive candles. Rather than try a DIY project with the possibility to fail and frustrate me, someone suggested getting a candle warmer, which was a game changer. We actually bought two – one for upstairs and one for downstairs, and now I still get the amazing smell from those candles that didn’t burn properly.

Blue Amazon Bikini – This is another bikini I got from Amazon and just absolutely loved. Again, you get free shipping and free returns and it was incredibly flattering and a third of the price I usually spend on bikinis. It’s a cheeky thong bottom, which isn’t my usual style, but was perfect for a beach trip to Mexico last month. Check out this picture of me wearing my Amazon bikini on Instagram.

Booty Bands – These at-home resistance bands are the perfect addition to our home gym. The booty bands are easy to use (even during commercial breaks if I want to do a little something), and they are also the perfect travel companion. I packed these for Mexico and did a few rounds while in our hotel room. Definitely a great at-home fitness piece and they are only $17.99.

Check out my top 5 Amazon purchases from October.

January 4, 2021/by Jayme