FASHIONTOLIVE + FASHIONABLEFOODIVA

This months review for Alo Yoga set Olive Branch is a little spicy. The set has lattice cut outs on the sports bra and cut outs on the legs with mesh giving it a super sexy look. I also am sharing an additional purchase which are the plastic yoga blocks which I have been wanting for a while now.

This is my 3rd time wearing this set. I wore it about three weeks ago when I was moving boxes and if I had written this review that day I would tell you with a hard No this set was not worth the hassle. Today, I am emphatically saying I love this set. What changed? I changed. I have arthritis (RA) and I have flare ups when I am stressed or when I have been compromised by gluten. Moving caused a huge flare up! Worse than I have ever experienced so a few weeks ago when I was wearing this set it did not fit well at all! The sports bra was cutting into my skin all over. The bottoms kept rolling down and my skin was coming out the side. It was a hot mess.

I weigh 127 pounds and due to the flare ups, autoimmune issues, and even having a hormonal imbalance I will a lot of times weigh in anywhere from 127 to 133. Its always been like this sometimes if its bad it will go up to 139 and I mean it happens over night. Anyway, so 3 weeks ago I weighed myself and I was like OMG Dan the scale says I weigh 145 today. Holy cow, this was a massive flare up! My ankles were even so swollen I had to take off my anklets and my socks were cutting into my skin. So, just like I described the discomfort I felt wearing this set 3 weeks ago that is what I went through.

We aren't fully settled in, but settled in enough that I have had time to heal and rest and sleep on a real mattress. So, I washed this set and was like ok, now that I know why it fit so badly I am going to re-visit this.

Now, this set is awesome. The fit is perfect. The bottoms fit perfectly for my height and the mesh does have stretch. The only issue I had was that my nails are very long and when you are pulling them up your fingernails can puncture the mesh. The other observation I had was that although the lattice is really cute, its not practical or comfortable and when you are actively working out you can't even see it because it rolls up under the sports bra. 

I am wearing xs in the high waist capris, they fit true to size. The fabric is really nice, smooth, and stretchy. It doesn't feel like the Alo soft or the Airlift fabrics. The sports bra I am wearing is a size S and it is comfortable, but I don't care for the lattice. The lattice can become uncomfortable in a heavy workout.

This is my first time using yoga blocks and I plan on incorporating them into my workout regularly. I enjoyed using them, they are comfortable and smooth to the touch. This area of my backyard is not really flat (which I found out this day) so I am looking forward to using them on a flatter hard surface.

Floral set: Not recent

Heels: Jimmy Choo Abel, not recent

Clutch: not recent

OUR DATE NIGHT DINNER

Stuffed portobello mushrooms

Ingredients 

One bunch of rainbow chard

6 to 7 slices of bacon

heavy cream

gluten free panko or bread crumbs

mozzerela cheese

2 packs of portobello mushrooms

salt and pepper to taste

Cook bacon and set to the side to drain.

Rinse and remove the stems of the mushrooms and let the mushrooms cook in the oven on 350 for 15 minutes to remove moisture.

Cook the chard in a pan over the oven at medium heat until it breaks down and is fully sautéed with salt and garlic.

Once you have the bacon chopped up mix the bacon, cheese, panko and chard in a bowl and stuff the tops of the mushrooms. Finish it off with mozzarella cheese and cook on 375 for half an hour. This includes the changes I would make now after cooking it, as you can see from the photos I did it differently, but you all should still get the point.

So, this was a recipe that I came up with, my bacon is definitely more on the darker side than I wanted. There are a few things I would change about my recipe in retrospect after I made and tasted my recipe.

1. I would add the panko into the mixture and mix it all together with the cheese and bacon and chard and add a little wetness (cream) to make it homogeneous. I am pretty much working in the confines of what I can get my hands on at the grocery store...meat has constantly been out of stock as well as gluten free panko. Overall, it was a really great meal.