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If you’re throwing any kind of holiday shindig in the coming months, you know how essential prepping is to ensuring that things go smoothly when it’s game time.

That’s why we love this set of KitchenAid prep bowls, which also happen to be on sale right now for just under $10, making them a total steal.

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With the holidays coming up, we are in peak pie-making season. And pie makers are passionate people. Pies are so easy to buy that anyone who takes the time to make one from scratch — crust and all! — is guaranteed to impress everybody through sheer effort alone. Now one pie maker has raised the bar so high she managed to amaze even the woman who does everything beautifully: Martha Stewart herself.

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If you struggle to get your guests out of the kitchen while you’re focusing on the turkey and are desperate for no distractions, I suggest you casually place a platter of these deviled eggs in the room you’d like your family and friends to gather in. I guarantee they’ll be like bees to honey, fleeing your workspace and helping you to not freak out in the eleventh hour.

These creamy deviled eggs, flavored with sage and shallots and topped with plenty of crispy bacon crumbles, are easy to make and even easier to win over your aunt who keeps asking if you need any help.

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From Apartment Therapy → Essential Tips for Getting Organized, According To The Onion

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If you’re tasked with putting together a smaller Thanksgiving feast this year — like, say, for Friendsgiving — it’s totally possible to do it all on two sheet pans. Yes, I said two sheet pans! Here’s how.

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If you are traveling to someone else’s home for the holidays, you may be considering toting along alcohol in some shape or form. This is because (1) someone will drink it, (2) you can spend as much or as little as your budget allows, and (3) it does not require a ton of effort.

The problem with alcohol, of course, is that it is liquid. As such, the TSA will not let you carry it with you unless you divvy it up into 3.4-ounce containers. So, you’ll need to pack it in such a way that it doesn’t spill all over your special Thanksgiving sweater. Here’s the best way to do it.

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Crispy turkey skin is quite possibly the best part of the Thanksgiving meal. We know that brining a turkey will yield a roast turkey with moist, juicy meat, but what about the skin? Everybody loves crispy skin. Here are three key steps you need to take to ensure perfectly crispy skin every single time.

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As of last year, almond milk was the most popular milk of all milks in the United States. And even with all the newcomers — cashew milk, coconut milk, hemp milk, oat milk — we’d guess it’s still the darling of the “mylks.” But does it deserve its spotlight in the non-dairy section of your supermarket?

Here are a few things you should know about almond milk.

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If you’re working with pregnant clients — or have experienced pregnancy yourself — you’re aware that pregnancy usually comes with its fair share of aches and pains. The hips, lower back, upper back and neck are all common locations for discomfort during pregnancy.

Luckily, as a coach, you can help your pregnant client decrease those aches and pains, and keep her body from feeling overly sore.

Below is a quick circuit of stretches and exercises I use with my clients. It isn’t be strenuous, but it helps to get the blood pumping and the body moving, and only takes about five minutes to complete.

You can use this circuit as a dynamic warm-up with a pregnant client — in fact, you could encourage her to practice it daily throughout her pregnancy. One or two sets through the exercises on most days of the week is sufficient, but especially on non-training days.

The only equipment needed is a bench, a couch, or a chair (make sure whatever your client is using is secured and won’t slide).

Disclaimer: As always, please make sure that your client has consulted with her doctor to confirm she has no contraindications to exercise during her pregnancy. These exercises are safe to do from Week 1 to Week 42, as long as your client is feeling comfortable doing them.

Wide Child’s Pose with Side Stretch

Coaching cues:

• Knees about as wide as a yoga mat, toes together.
• Bum to the heels, focusing on turning the tailbone up toward the ceiling.
• Stretch the arms forward and rest the head on the floor, hold for five breaths.

In addition to what’s demonstrated in the video above, you can have your client to the following to add a side stretch:

• Walk the arms to the right to feel a gentle stretch down the left side of the body.
• Root the left hip downward, and hold for five breaths.
• Walk the arms to the left to feel a gentle stretch down the right side of the body.
• Root the right hip down, hold for five breaths.

If your client needs to feel more supported, have her rest her belly on a bolster, pillow, or rolled up towel.

NOTE: If your client feels pain in her pelvis or she’s experiencing symphysis pubis dysfunction (SPD), skip this particular variation. You can have her try the stretch while standing facing a wall instead:

• Stand facing a wall, stretching the arms up the wall
• Walk the hands over to one side to feel a gentle stretch, and then walk the hands over to the other side.

Clamshells

Instruct your client to get into a side-lying position with her head, hips, and heels in line, supporting her head with her bottom arm and stretch her top arm out in front of her.

Coaching cues:

• Press the hand of the outstretched arm into the floor.
• Exhale and squeeze the glutes to lift the top knee up into the air.
• The heels stay together so the range of motion is quite small. Your client should feel a bit of a burn in her glutes on the leg she’s lifting.
• Perform 10 to 15 repetitions per side.

NOTE: A common form break is to allow the hips to rock backwards. To prevent this, make sure your client is pressing her hand into the floor to keep her weight shifted slightly forward.

Hip Thrusts

Coaching cues:

• Exhale while squeezing the glutes to lift the hips up in the air. (If your client needs to support her neck she can place her hands behind her head.)
• Inhale while lowering the hips back down toward the floor, keeping a small arch in the lower back.
• Perform 15 to 20 repetitions.

NOTE: Your client should be moving her whole body as one unit through the hip thrust. Her ribcage and hips should stay in line on the way up and on the way down.

Bodyweight Squats

Make sure your client is set up with good alignment, with her feet a bit wider than shoulder distance and a comfortable foot placement for you (this is often slightly turned out to the sides).

Coaching cues:

• Inhale while sitting back and down into the hips, keeping a small arch in the lower back even at the bottom of the squat.
• Exhale to stand back up, squeezing the legs strongly.
• Perform 12 to 15 repetitions.

NOTE: Make sure that your client is squeezing her glutes as she stands, but doesn’t drive her hips forward to flatten her lower back. I cue my clients to “leave your bum behind you” at the top.

Wall Slides

This exercise will help mobilize your client’s thoracic spine, which will in turn help her maintain good posture.

Coaching cues:

• Stand with back against a wall, without pressing the low back to the wall.
• Walk the feet six inches away from the wall.
• The ribs should be “stacked” over the pelvis (you may need to cue your client to draw her front ribs downward). drawing the front ribs down. You’ll feel some action in your abdominals here).
• Place the arms against the wall at 90-degree angles, with the forearms, wrists, and hands drawing back into the wall.
• Slide the arms up the wall until they’re straight overhead, still in contact with the wall as much as possible, though it’s OK if contact is lost the higher the arms go. Your client should do her best to keep reaching back, but focus on mastering the alignment of the rest of her body first.
• Perform 10 to 15 repetitions.

NOTE: Watch that her lower back maintains a gentle curve, but doesn’t arch as she raises her arms.

Thank you so much to Dr. Kate Durnin, a Chiropractor at Peak Health and Performance in Calgary Alberta, for modeling in the wall slide photos.

The post 5 Exercises to Help Your Clients Reduce Their Pregnancy Aches and Pains appeared first on Girls Gone Strong.

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Prepare to get weird. Wherever you find yourself while you’re reading this, stop and notice where you feel your breath. Your nose? Your chest? Your traps? Your belly? Now close your mouth and put your tongue on the roof of your mouth. Focus on breathing in and out through your nose, deep into your lower abdomen. Once you have that down, take a finger and close one nostril while keeping your mouth shut. Ignore the weird looks.

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