WhirlyBird Granola GIVEAWAY

It's TIME for our first giveaway in December...and the first giveaway for our birthday bash! Hooray! Get ready to eat your heart out in GRANOLA...and even better, it's local (from Cincinnati)!

WhirlyBird Granola. I can't get over how cute their marketing is. Just go look at their website and you will see what I mean: burlap flag banners and birds that whirl. And it must be delicious, because Drew Lachey (brother of Nick Lachey and a Cincinnati native) eats it for breakfast.

I met up with Christy, the owner, at a Starbucks in Cincy to snag a few bags of Whirlybird and give it a whirl (pun intended!). She was really sweet and excited to be working with PD! Plus, she has three ADORABLE little kiddos, and you all know how much I love kids (in fact, as I'm writing this, I'm nannying a 12 week old infant! SO CUTE.). 

They currently have four flavors: Original, Vanilla Berry, Chocolate, and the seasonal Gingerbread. As far as my favorite flavor goes, I'm having a REALLY hard time choosing between Gingerbread and Chocolate.

WhirlyBird uses all natural ingredients and makes every bag in small batches. It is free from artificial flavors and preservatives, so that's a plus. It's also vegan friendly and incredibly delicious! Their website offers a lot of great, unique ways to eat granola besides just tossing it with milk or grabbing it by the handful (although that's not bad, either!).

Is your mouth watering yet?

I thought so. 

Here is what you need to do to win FOUR BAGS (one of each flavor) of WhirlyBird Granola.

Each thing you do is an entry. Please leave a SEPARATE COMMENT in the comment section for each thing you do or your entries won't be counted!

1. Follow Passing Daisies on Twitter and tweet "I just entered to win FOUR BAGS of @WhirlyGranola from @passingdaisies! Head to the blog and ENTER TO WIN now! #birthdaybash #giveaway"

2. Instagram a picture of this post (or a picture on it) and say "I just entered to win FOUR BAGS of Whirlybird Granola from @passingdaisies13! Head to the blog and ENTER TO WIN now! #birthdaybash #giveaway"

3. Pin this post on Pinterest and say "I just entered to win FOUR BAGS of Whirlybird Granola from @passingdaisies! Head to the blog and ENTER TO WIN now! #birthdaybash #giveaway"

4. Comment on the PD Facebook page and tell me how you would eat this granola. 

5. Follow PD on Google (right hand column, where it says "Followers" AND//OR subscribe to PD via email.

That's all she wrote, folks! Now get entering! Only people living in the United States can enter to win. Giveaway ends on FRIDAY DECEMBER 13TH at 11:59PM. Winner will be contacted by email.

EDIT// Giveaway now closed. Congrats for #4, Ray! Please email me your contact info.

WIAW #34: Fitness + Babysitting

Hey ladies and gents! Welcome to another What I Ate Wednesday! So glad to be back to the WIAW party.

Here's a look at what I ate on Tuesday... 

{BREAKFAST} Nature Valley Peanut Butter granola bar // coffee {LUNCH} Archer Farm's Raspberry Creme Brulee granola // Hard boiled egg // Fresh raspberries {SNACKS} Apple // Orange // Dark chocolate square // Half of a Hail Merry persian lime tart {DINNER} Little Caesar's pepperoni pizza // Crazy Bread

All in all, I consider that to be an okay day of eating. To be honest, I didn't really want the pizza, but it was free since I was babysitting tonight and that's what the kiddos ate. Not healthy, but I gotta take each day as it comes. Below are a few pictures - some things from today, others from earlier this week.

Speaking of falling into good habits, I'm heading back to the gym after a long hiatus. This time I think I'll actually stick with it, thanks to my dad's recent quadruple bypass surgery. I never want to end up in a hospital, let alone in surgery. And to avoid both of those things, I need to start eating right and working out consistently. So here's a look at today's trip to the gym:

{FITNESS} Ran .61 miles on treadmill // Walked on treadmill // Elliptical for 30 minutes // Weight training (thighs) 

{CALORIES BURNED} Roughly 320 cal

Also an okay day. Yesterday, I had more intense of a workout...I started working out my arms on the weight machines, which is something I haven't done in, oh, I don't know...a year. Or something ridiculous. And BOY am I STILL feeling that workout! Crazy! I also burned an intense 590 calories between walking on the treadmill and the cross trainer. Tomorrow I will be focusing on cardio + ab workouts. Yikes. Haven't worked my abs in about as long as my arms...

If you are having problems with being bored at the gym (I have this problem all the time!) I recommend that you find a great fiction book and read it. Something that makes time fly by. That's when I work my hardest! I've been reading The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson and it's wonderful. Also, drink coffee an hour before you work out. It makes your workout seem less challenging. No joke - I tried it today and it worked. I read about it in last month's issue of Women's Health!

Remember the kiddos I said I babysat tonight? Their names are Jameson (four years old) and Mac (two years old). Check out their adorable selves:

Cuties, right?!

So, today I am meeting up with local granola maker Christy from Whirly Bird Granola to get some samples and start on a product review! How exciting is that?! I love meeting local foodies and learning about their stuff!

That's all for now. But before I sign off, I have a couple questions for YOU...

How do you stay motivated to get to the gym? [I make a weekly gym schedule + I never want to have health problems]

What exciting plans do you have for Thanksgiving?! 

P.S. - Did you check out my new Holiday Gift Guide series?!

Calling All Cincinnatians!

Are you from Cincinnati, have visited family in the city, or know of great, local places in the area?

Comment and let me know your favorite places to go!

I want to do features on local companies - those hole-in-the-wall places that not everyone knows about. I will be working with Whirlybird Granola pretty soon, a local granola company whose product you can buy at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Rookwood Commons.

Where do YOU like to go?

It can be small shops, restuarants, health & fitness related... ANYTHING!

Gimme your suggestions, people.