Friday Favorites: Week of 10/9

Good morning and Happy Friday! How are you doing out there?

It’s been a busy week over here, but a good one filled with the perfect mix of work and play. We spent a few days truly exploring our area with new adventures, and I’m excited to share the highlights with you here today.

I’m also covering my latest workouts, a new clean beauty launch, a ridiculously easy chili recipe, and more. This edition of Friday Favorites is pretty long, so let’s get right to the good stuff. Thank you for reading!

Friday Favorites: Week of 10/9

• Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum

I got an invite to join a friend of mine with her husband and little boy on this adventure over the weekend, and I’m so glad that I did. We paid our first visit to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in the city, and it was so cool to explore this national landmark.

As NYC’s only aircraft carrier museum, it is well worth the ticket price to enter, and Skyler was still free. It’s literally a museum on a boat, filled with multiple accessible floors and a wide variety of things to see.

You can visit a real aircraft carrier, sit in the Captain’s chair, and see rows of fighter planes on the top deck. It’s fun for all ages, and I feel like we would be able to see even more on another visit, as we tend to miss every stop while chasing a toddler around.

You can currently make ticket reservations for a limited capacity experience, and while you’re at it, walk over to Restaurant Row in Hell’s Kitchen afterwards. It was a great day trip that I highly recommend!

• Convivium Ostera (Park Slope, Brooklyn)

Scott and I found this new-to-us Italian restaurant on a total whim on a walk home from Target last weekend, and it was a huge win. We weren’t even planning on dining outdoors, but we walked by, saw an empty table, and jumped at the chance to dine al fresco after eyeing the place for months. It’s a beautiful set up, right?

Convivium Osteria is a charming Rustic Italian taverna with a farmhouse feel. There’s a beautiful garden outside along with a wine cellar, and we are looking forward to returning when the restaurant is completely open to get the full experience. It’s adorable!

And if the atmosphere wasn’t inviting enough, the food was incredible.

Seriously, this place is a hidden gem that doesn’t get enough attention! We started with the Polenta (with oyster mushrooms and taleggio cheese), since we knew Skyler would enjoy it.

We followed that up with two hearty and shareable dishes, a lasagna bolognese and an extremely unique ravioli.

The ingredients and flavors of this ravioli was unlike anything that I’ve tried before with green apple, ricotta, and cinnamon, topped with a pecking duck ragú. I mean, it was out of this world. The lasagna was incredible, too!

We left the restaurant very pleasantly surprised, and will most certainly return to report and share more menu loves. If you’re anywhere near the Park Slope area in Brooklyn, you’re going to want to give this one a try.

• Fall Fresh Beauty is here

Big news dropped over at Beautycounter this week with the first launch of Fall Fresh Beauty! All of the details you need to know are in my latest clean beauty newsletter, and I personally cannot wait to try and gift them all.

You may not be in the holiday shopping mood yet, but I know that we all could use some additional self-care right now. So, go ahead and shop for yourself … because you deserve it my friend!

Here are some of my favorite picks:

The Golden Hour Palette is so gorgeous! Plus, 10% of the proceeds from the sales of it are being donated to Kailash Satyarthi Childrens Foundation. I love the shades, mix of products and hideaway mirror on the side.

The Beyond Gloss Trio is currently in my cart. You might remember that the new Beyond Gloss lipgloss launched not too long ago, and this set features the same high-impact shine formula with zero stickiness. And can we talk about the shades? They look even brighter in person. So cute to keep for yourself or separate and gift to others.

The Bright Side Duo set is a must if you have not tried the two best sellers yet, or if you want travel size bottles of your favorite products! Your face will feel my obsession immediately and thank you.

The Countertime Tripeptide Radiance Serum is a step I never miss in my anti-aging regimen. (Read more about the Countertime line and my personal review if you haven’t yet.) I have been wanting to add a roller into my routine for a while now, and I cannot wait to try the Turn Back Time Facial Roller that comes in the Countertime Radiant Skin Set!

Those are just my top four picks, and there are six more holiday sets launching next month, too. Very exciting stuff!

ALSO. Don’t miss the giveaway included in and in the new Life In Leggings – Beautycounter Facebook Page! (Details there … have you joined yet?)

• Bronx Zoo

Visiting the Bronx Zoo is something that Scott and I have been wanting to do since moving to NYC four and a half years ago. I cannot believe it’s taken so long for us to actually go, as it’s a subway train ride away and you can reserve free tickets every Wednesday!

We spent almost five hours exploring and already want to come back again soon. There’s so much to observe and experience. This zoo is labeled the largest urban zoo in the country with over 200 acres!

And, FYI, we felt very safe in our visit. The zoo is currently open to all visitors, but you must reserve a date-specific ticket in advance for limited capacity entry. They closed some indoor exhibits and areas in close quarters, mandated that everyone wear masks at all times (outside of eating), and it was hard to find an open restroom due to the constant cleaning.

Entry was free, but we did end up purchasing the full upgrade ticket ($15 per adult) throughout our day that included tickets to extra attractions and rides like JungleWorld, Nature Trek, Wild Asia Monorail, Congo Gorilla Forrest, Bug Carousel, and more. And like I said above, we were there for several hours and didn’t even get to half of what we wanted to! You could easily spend the entire day doing countless activities, and we can’t wait to return.

We’re even thinking of purchasing a membership to have access to everything as well as other zoos and attractions in the area.

We shall see!

• the easiest chicken chili recipe

This is the second time that I have made chili over the last month, so I figured it was time for me to share the recipe with you. It’s extremely easy, and I got it from a cookbook, Cooking For a Cure, that directly supports The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. We purchased this from a friend who put it together back in May, and it includes 295 recipes and tips and tricks to help you in the kitchen. It’s so helpful to turn to when you need a quick and fan-favorite recipe, so if you’d like to support the cause, you can purchase your own copy for a $25 donation here.

Here is the recipe! You only need a small amount of ingredients that you might already have on hand for this one along with an hour of cooking time. It’s delicious!

Chicken Chili

Ingredients:

3 boneless chicken breasts, cooked & shredded

(or one fully shredded rotisserie chicken)

1 can black beans

1 can kidney beans

1 can sweet corn kernels

1 (16 oz) can tomato sauce

1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes

1 pack taco spice seasoning (I used Trader Joe’s)

1 1/2 Tbsp. Chili Powder

1 can chicken broth (I used about 3 cups of a 1 quart container)

*optional additions/garnishes:

I added an extra can of kidney beans and small beans, then a little more chicken broth. This recipe thickens upon cooking. Feel free to serve and garnish how you like! I offered this batch with a side of sour cream, avocado, shredded cheddar cheese, cilantro, and saltine crackers.

Directions:

Drain the beans and corn. Add all of the ingredients into the pot. Let it cook over medium heat for 1 hour. Stir occasionally. Like any chili, the longer it cooks, the better the flavor!

Notes:

You could also heat or cook the chili in the crock pot. This recipe serves about 5-6 adults, and you can easily double the recipe for leftovers. See my notes under the ingredients for serving and garnishing ideas.

Yum!

• latest workout faves

Okay, here’s another week where I just didn’t do a great job at documenting my workouts. Do y’all prefer a breakdown day-by-day or for me to just look back at the week and share the highlights and notable workouts here? Let me know, because if the look at a full week is what you like, I will certainly step things up a get back to that type of sharing.

For this week, however, here is a look back at the workouts I did outside of running. They were great and included my first official trips back to the gym here in New York!

And then this one, which consisted of three mini-circuits.

I paired these two with easy-paced cardio on the stationary bike.

Other new tries and loves:

• 20 Minute Total-Body Sculpt & Tone Workout via Popsugar

All you need to complete it is a medium set of dumbbells, a mat, and 20 minutes! You’d be surprised what you can accomplish in just a short amount of time. Loved the limited number of moves with muscle burnout.

• At Home HIIT // 20 Different Bodyweight Exercises via Heather Robertson

This is also a really good workout for limited time. It doesn’t require any equipment outside of a mat, and doesn’t repeat any moves. Love it!

• favorite LIL posts

» Skyler’s Two (and 1/2) Year Update

Skyler has a TON of energy at this age! He is bright-eyed and ready for activity from the moment he wakes up until his head hits the pillow for nap or nighttime. (He is a mini-Scott here through and through.) Check out the latest stories, milestones, talk about eating, sleeping, and traveling, recaps of his favorite things, my favorite things for him right now, and more!

» At-Home Tabata Strength Workout with Resistance Bands

Fun fact, resistance bands are more effective than you might think. They provide plenty of functional strength and offer better injury prevention than other forms of exercise. If you have a set or even access to one that is collecting dust right now, it would be as good of a time as ever to break it out and join me for a workout.

Exercise breakdowns, a video, and Tabata training playlist included!

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All right, it’s time to wrap things up and dive into Friday around here. I hope you have a great rest of the day and weekend ahead. Scott was originally scheduled to fly back down to Louisiana for another round of hurricane relief, but the trip got cancelled since another hurricane is heading that way. So many prayers to those preparing for another hit right now! Sheesh.

Stay safe out there everyone!

*Disclaimer: Friday Favorites posts may contain affiliate links. Also, I am a Beautycounter consultant and love what I do with the company. By using the links provided in this post to order products, you are supporting my business. I always appreciate you!