List of things I love this week

How often do you try a product, then wish you could share your find with the world? This happens to me a lot. I write for a number of publications in addition to the work I do on GirlsGoneSporty, so I frequently get to test products that may or may not have an obvious crossover to this site. It's always a little tricky deciding whether to allow products tested for one site to "crossover" to another, but I've decided to allow the lines to blur a little and provide an "equal opportunist" section here on the GirlsGoneSporty blog. So... without any obligation to include these products, here are my five favorite things this week:

Olympus Greek Yogurt

I'm not a yogurt fan, but I'm a huge Greek yogurt fan. Typically I just buy whatever's on sale, so I've tried just about every brand on the market. I can speak honestly when I say that not all Greek yogurts are created equal! Some are creamier, some are smoother, some are tangier. Some have more sugar, some have more fat. Some have more calories. You get the drill.

I can honestly, without any exaggeration, say that Olympus Greek Yogurt is the best Greek yogurt I've ever tasted. It's the only Greek yogurt in America that's actually imported from Greece, and it. is. fabulous!

Since receiving a shipment last week, I think I've had yogurt with every meal. I've created salad dressings, dips and desserts from the plain yogurts while I've enjoyed the flavored yogurts by themselves. Hands down, my favorite flavor is the low fat lemon yogurt. It has real lemon and lemon juice in it, so it tastes a little bit like eating fresh squeezed lemonade. Seriously. This stuff is good.

There's one downside - it's not sold in my area! Olympus is currently in specialty stores nationwide and is also located in a number of A&P/Whole Foods stores, so be sure to check out the shelves of your local store to see if you can find the brand. It's rare that I feel strongly enough to petition my local store to start carrying something they don't have, but I plan on making a call tomorrow to see what it takes to get this product on the shelf.

SpaRitual Gold Collection

While I'm not always the best at keeping my nails looking sharp, if there's one line of nail polish that I'm loving this summer, it's the SpaRitual Gold Collection - particularly the red (Rusted Lux), orange (Conduit) and true gold colors (Aurum). I was actually surprised that I liked these colors the best because I thought I was going to prefer the rose gold (Gilded Age) and shimmery clear (Alchemy), but they don't pop as well against my pale skin. 

Apart from the colors themselves, I fell in love with these because:

• They're vegan
• They're free of all those nasty chemicals lots of polishes still contain (DBP, Toluene, formaldehyde and formaldehyde resin)
• They're infused with real gold particles (that just sounds luxurious, no?)
• They're shiny and sparkly. I like shiny. And sparkly.

In any case, the shimmery colors are perfect for summer fun while remaining conservative enough for the office. Love!

IntelliSkin Eve Shirt 2.0

I had the opportunity to try this shirt out for a different publication, but I've been talking about it ever since. These compression shirts are designed to promote better posture, and while I can see how the well-placed seams and panels would help with this, I actually like the shirt for a bunch of different reasons, too. Like...

• It's really long. As tall as I am, it's hard to find shirts that fit well through the torso and arms. This one does the trick.
• It's slimming. The combination of compression fabric, contrasting seams and flattering fit all make this shirt very slimming.
• It's wicking and antimicrobial so it keeps you cool and stink-free. Always a good thing.
• It has SPF protection. Can't complain about that!

Werther's Originals

No one sent me these. I was just reminiscing about how my granddad used to always have them on hand. He would pull them out of his coat pocket for us, just like in the Werther's commercials.

I picked up a bag of Werther's Originals from the grocery store last week and I haven't been able to stop eating them! They're too much of a temptation for me to quit, so now I know better than to keep them in the house, but it's been fun to indulge the memory while also indulging my sweet tooth.

American Apparel Motion Short

I haven't worn booty hugging biker shorts in ages.

I hate talking about weight and body type because I think people focus too much on these things and not enough on health, but I'll admit that I shy away from this style because my upper thighs are not my favorite part of my body. That doesn't mean I don't like my body or my thighs. I do! And I'll even go as far as to say that I love my butt - it's the most complimented feature of my whole body! But, we all have our favorite body parts and the parts we're a little more conscious of. My upper thighs are a part I'm a little more conscious of.

All that to say, trying the American Apparel Motion Shorts was a  challenge I'm glad I undertook. Yes, the shorts are short. Yes, they're tight. And yes, I was a little nervous to wear them to the gym. But I did and I love them! I think sometimes you have to "fake it 'till you make it" if you want to gain confidence. By actually rockin' the booty hugging biker shorts, I ended up feeling better about my thighs instead of feeling worse. I was able to say, "Hey, sure, my thighs are 23" in circumference, but my legs look strong and capable. There's nothing wrong with what I'm putting out into the world." That's always a good self-reminder!