#FitTeaDetox

I don't know about you, but whenever I get back from a vacation, I seem to have mysteriously gained 5 or 6 pounds. I'm just so busy eating whatever I want, whenever I want, that I'm lucky if I bother to fit one or two workouts in during my time away. Plus, you know, I'm quite busy lying on the beach, or sitting at the beach, or eating at the beach...you know, lots of varied activities.  Ok, so I do a whole not of nothing on vacation. Mysterious vacation weight-gain solved.

So, naturally I was stoked when FitTea approached me to try their 14-day detox. It came at the perfect time; right after I got back from vacation and had a few of those I had lots of fun! pounds to shed.  Plus, their tag line is "Give us a few weeks and we'll give you a new waistline." They were speaking my language. Here's the low down. FitTea is an all-natural tea composed of organic green tea, oolong wu yi, rooibos, ginger, pomegranate, guarana, birch, stevia, corn (there are actual kernels in there!), and honey powder. It promises to boost the immune system, promote fat burning, aide in digestion, give you energy, and suppress appetite; plus it even has antioxidants and antimicrobial properties. I decided I could use all of the above, and thus began my two week #FitTeaDetox.

Here's what I did:

The instructions say to drink a cup of tea each morning or before a workout. It didn't clarify if the tea should be drunk with breakfast or alone, and since I am not one for whom a cup of tea constitutes a meal, I had the tea with my breakfast each morning. After eating whatever I wanted and not bothering to work it off for a couple weeks, I slowly got back into the habit of incorporating produce into my diet, and exercising most days.

Here are the results:  

When I had the tea alongside a simple breakfast of Grape Nuts with raisins and almond milk, I didn't get hungry again for over 3 hours. (Normally if I eat just one bowl of cereal I'm hungry after about 30 minutes). So, I would say it certainly worked as an appetite suppressant. My waistline, however, is inconclusive. By day four I was down 3 pounds and 1% body fat, which is the lowest it's been in years. But a few days later, I was back to my normal weight. Some days I weighed a pound more, some days less. But my body fat percentage went right back to what it normally is, and stayed around that number for the rest of the time.

Here are my thoughts:

As an appetite suppressant, this tea works. But as far as weight loss, my results are inconclusive. I can't say with certainty that the tea helped me to lose weight or any inches off my waistline. The tea has a slight lemony flavor that I personally didn't love - I just have a strange association between hot lemon anything and lemon flavored Theraflu, but my boyfriend tried some and he loved it.

If I enjoyed the flavor of the tea, I would certainly continue drinking it every single morning, for the simple fact that it helps me to feel fuller longer, and also, this stuff is healthy. I can only imagine that with continued use, I'd lose a few pounds in the long run, and I don't doubt that all of the antioxidants would strengthen my immune system. But sadly, Theraflu really did a number on my psyche, and now all things warm and lemony make me be like. If it didn't kick my colds' butts on a regular basis, I'd be pretty upset with its creators for giving it such an icky flavor*.  

*Just for clarification. FitTea doesn't taste like Theraflu...it's so much better and much less intense. It's just that I've had Theraflu so many times, it just makes me want to stick my tongue out whenever something that even reminds me of it is in my presence. But I'm sure you're a much more mature person than I.

Disclosure: I received compensation for my review of FitTea.  All opinions are 100% my own.  You know how I roll.

Why I'm In #BouqLove

Hey guys!  I recently found out about a new, pretty awesome website for ordering flowers and I want to share it with you.  It's called The Bouqs, and it's unlike any other flower website you've ever seen.  Seriously.  They have a simple pricing policy - $40 for all original size bouquets, and always free shipping!  I don't know about you, but every time I visit one of those other flower sites, I'm usually drawn in by the low price of a bouquet -- usually something like $19.99.  Excitement sets in, then I'm thrown for a loop when I start to calculate all of the extra costs like express fees or care charges.  Before I know what hit me, I'm paying $47 to send a small bouquet of limp carnations a week later than I want.  Not cool.  

With The Bouqs, not only is the price a flat fee, but you can be assured that all of the flowers are fresh as a daisy (or rose, calla, or ranunculus as the case may be) because they are cut the day you order them.  What's more, they all come from an eco-friendly, sustainable farm that sits on the side of an active volcano in Ecuador.  Yeah.  Really. And have I mentioned that the bouquets are just so modern?  They've got simple, beautiful designs without any of that weird baby's breath nonsense, or lots of extra leaves thrown in as filler.  Because that is so 1993.  This one with white ranunculus and larkspur is probably my very favorite of the entire bunch.

See what I mean?  Simple, modern design that is so much more original and unique than your average bunch of roses.  (Though, The Bouqs does offer bunches of roses, too, but somehow manage to make them so much more special than any other ones I've ever seen -- see above).  And I can't get over the rustic, brown craft paper that just compliments the flowers so perfectly.

With the gorgeous selection, low prices, and ease of ordering, I can't think of a better time to send a random little ray of sunshine to somebody.  Perhaps even as a hostess gift for that 4th of July BBQ you'll be attending next week?  This oh-so-cleverly named Red, White, & Bouq bouquet would be just the perfect offering, don't you think?

Disclosure: In exchange for this post I received a coupon code for a bouquet which I haven't redeemed yet, otherwise I'd give my review of the flowers themselves.  However, I look forward to receiving some lovely flowers, as I'm sure they're going to be gorgeous and fresh!  All opinions are 100% my own.

Top 5 Reasons You Should Join The #Markerly Network Right Now (& a Giveaway)

Can we talk business for a minute?  I'd like to introduce you to Markerly.  Markerly is a really great blogging network that hooks bloggers up with sponsored content gigs from pretty awesome brands like Levi's, The Super Bowl, TruMoo, eMeals, and Skillshare, and is staffed by a super friendly team that is always willing to lend a hand.  Being a part of the Markerly network myself, I know from experience that they are a complete pleasure to work with (I may have taken advantage of their 24/7 blogger support on more than one occasion and sent innumerable emails to my contact there as well).  In addition to getting to work with the brands listed above, there are also opportunities to receive free products for review like Jaybird ear buds, or wine from Invino and Last Bottles Wine.  Yes.  They pay in money and free wine.   As if free booze isn't reason enough to sign up, get this: They payout within 48 hours of the post going live.  If you've worked with some of the other networks that make you wait 30 days or more to cash out, then you know two days a pretty quick turnaround.  I mean, day jobs don't even pay that fast.  

Markerly's network is open to anyone with at least 10,000 pageviews per month or an average of three comments per post.  They value quality blog posts and authentic engagement with your audience over number of followers.  This is great news, especially if you're a new blogger and don't have a big following yet, or are an established blogger who's just not into racking up facebook likes and twitter follows.  And what's really unique about Markerly is that with the code you'll embed in your posts, you'll be able to access a heat map of your content, so you'll have insight as to what parts of the post your readers clicked on the most.

So, a quick recap:

1. Super awesome friendly cool staff
2. You get paid to write content and/or receive free stuff, and collaborate with some pretty solid brands
3. They pay you really fast - within 2 days
4. Only 10,000 pageviews or 3 comments per post required to sign up 
5. You can see a heat map of your post so you know what people clicked on, as pictured below 
6. The $250 American Express gift card giveaway happening at the bottom of this post (I know this is a top 5 list; just think of this as the bonus good luck candle on the birthday cake)  

Seriously, I can't believe you're even still reading this post.  Click here to be taken to Markerly's sign up page.  There is literally no good reason I can think of for you not to join this wonderful network right now!

Disclaimer: Compensation was provided in return for writing this post. All opinions are 100% my own. Because I really, truly do think you should sign up for Markerly. I honestly love working with this company!