WIAW – a new schedule
Another day of eats coming your way. Don’t forget to head over to Peas and Crayons to see the entire link up!
Now that we are back from a little vacation in North Carolina and California, it’s time to settle into my new summer schedule. As you may remember, I made a big announcement that I was leaving my job to pursue a Masters in Social Work. I am really thrilled about this next step 🙂 I have a number of tasks for this summer prior to starting school full time. I am supplementing my time prepping for school with a number of exciting side projects that are a bit more “social work-y” (yeah I’m just gonna own that word) in nature. Here’s what my new schedule is like…
Like every good Tuesday, I started the morning with a cardio warm up and an AM session with my trainer. We were both traveling last week so we haven’t worked out together in two weeks! He definitely brought the pain with a killer lower body workout. I was positively dripping sweat by the end of our session. I headed home to shower and enjoyed a breakfast of iced coffee with 2% milk and overnight oats in a jar! I finally finished my jar of sunflower butter (must get more ASAP I love it) so I made overnight oats with strawberry yogurt, oats, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, chia seeds, sunflower seeds, sliced almonds, and raisins. So delicious and super filling. I had a really busy morning ahead so I didn’t want to get hungry!
My project kept me out of the house until 2 pm! By the time I got home I was positively famished. I reheated a homemade black bean burger (recipe post coming for these because OMG they were so good) on a toasted english muffin with a slice of gouda cheese. I wanted some veggies on the side so I cut up some celery sticks. As a little treat, I turned three of them into “ants on a log” with peanut butter and golden raisins. I guess the golden raisins make them less ant like but that’s what we had open. They were DELICIOUS.
I spent the rest of the afternoon working at home and taking a few phone calls. Suddenly I was totally in the mood to workout again! I am definitely enjoying the increased freedom of my new schedule so I decided to attend a 5:30 boot camp class at my gym I had never been able to get to before! Before heading out, I ate a bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats with almond milk. Glad I had it because boot camp was amazing and TOUGH. I don’t normally or always workout twice a day, but I love to exercise so I just do what I feel like doing!
After gym round two, I came back home to work some more until Mike got home from work. We ran out to CVS to pick up some eggs / bread that I needed for our planned dinner. Totally impulse purchased a 99 cent pack of “Red Fish” because I was getting SUPER hungry. They were not as good as the real thing but for 99 cents I wasn’t too upset about it.
With all the proper supplies in hand, I set to work making a frittata for dinner. I wrote a post about frittatas a while ago with more information. This one included eggs (duh), red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, yellow onion, shredded cheese, salt, pepper, and basil. Topped with some sliced avocado and served with a slice of sourdough toast. This dinner totally hit the spot! If you haven’t tried sliced avocado on your eggs before I highly recommend it!
After dinner I wasn’t feel super hungry for a snack but I was having a little bit of a sweet craving. I realized I hadn’t had much fruit so I snacked on a gala apple. It was just ok… not the crispest apple ever. But that’s ok 🙂
Questions for you guys:
- What are your favorite ingredients to include in a frittata?
- Favorite fruit?
I’ve Missed You Too
I’ve had a pretty prolonged and unexpected absence from the blog. Sometimes, that just happens with me. But other times, such as this, there is an explanation. And this time, I think it’s kind of fun and exciting!
After much consideration over the past year, many late night deliberations with Mike, and weepy phone calls with my mother and best friend, I have decided to take my career in a new direction. I went into the field of health and health care partly because it interested me but most because I really wanted to help people. I have learned a ton in the last three years working in the policy arena, but I was ready to explore a career that brought me in closer contact with actual people. After researching, soul-searching, and finally taking a big leap of faith, I put in applications to get my Masters in Social Work… and wouldn’t you know it, I got in.
So this was my big, long-winded lead into a big announcement… I am going back to school! Starting full-time in August, and for the next two years, I will be pursuing my MSW at Catholic University here in DC. I’m so excited about this I can’t even tell you. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this sooner! The program at Catholic is the perfect fit for my interests while still allowing me to continue my life here in DC with Mike and the kitties.
I would be remiss not to mention how unbelievably supportive Mike has been through this whole process. I am one lucky gal to have a partner / future husband who supports my dreams and ambitions.
So basically, the last couple weeks have been CRAZY with making decisions, gathering paperwork, finishing out other commitments. And then… I took a break. We went to my parents’ house in North Carolina for Memorial Day Weekend (where I understand we were possibly the only people on the Eastern Sea Board with decent MDW weather) and now I blogging to you from Sunny California! (If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram – which you totally should – you already know this is where I am because I can’t stop taking pictures).
I had some days off and Mike had to take a business trip to the LA area. I bought a plane ticket and tagged along. I have never been to California before so I thought I couldn’t pass up this chance! It’s been amazeballs so far.
Anyways, I’m gonna log off now and get ready to head down to Newport Beach for dinner with Mike and a college friend of mine who lives in the area. Just wanted to pop in, say hello, tell you my news, and let you know that I missed you!! I promise to resume regular blogging again starting… RIGHT NOW 🙂
Questions for you guys:
- What did you do for MDW? Anything else fun you did that I missed??
- Any social workers or MSW students out there?? Show yourselves!
- Favorite place in California?
WIAW – a little lighter
Sometimes after a really indulgent weekend, I can’t wait to have a day packed full of veggies, water, and slightly on the lighter side. Life is about balance, and this mother’s day weekend was wonderfully indulgent 🙂 Monday morning started bright at early with a 5 mile run in the brisk morning air. I’m really over 40 degree mornings here.. what the hell? Well actually, Monday started by chasing Little Mac around the apartment (have I mentioned how much Little Mac HATES to be picked up and he gets very suspicious if you try to touch him too much), trapping / swaddling him in a bath towel, and using a pair of scissors to cut a giant clump of cat poop out of his fluffy tail. All while Little Mac is howling and crying like we’re murdering him, and Fig is hiding under the bed crying because he loves Little Mac so much. These are the joys are pet ownership my friends. But I finally got out the door for my run! Upon arriving home, I made my standard glass of iced coffee with 1% chocolate milk. Delicious.
I took my coffee into the bedroom, turned on the news, and stretched out. Fig is always really snuggly but for some reason when I get back from working out in the morning he is especially so. This is how we stretch…
Breakfast was my favorite smoothie… frozen bananas (2), chocolate protein powder, scoop of peanut butter, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, and a TON of fresh spinach.
I enjoyed it at my desk as usual with my vitamins and some water.
Lunch today was a lightened up pasta salad I made on Sunday night. Included were multicolor pasta, a ton of zucchini, red bell pepper, tofu cubes, seasoning, and some Trader Joe’s Goddess salad dressing. It was DELICIOUS.
I went with a couple smaller snacks throughout the afternoon including a really ripe banana (I love them when they’re this ripeness… the best) and a cup of decaf coffee. I’m trying to be mindful of my caffeine intake. I noticed that other day that I had a really ridiculous amount so I’m trying to decide when I feel like I actually want caffeine, or when I just want a warm cup of coffee.
Also a mango flavored Trader Joe’s greek yogurt before I left work. I’m a fan of the very end of the day snack… that way I’m not cranky on the metro or starving when I walk in the door.
I took the metro out to my brother’s apartment and met up with my mom for my FINAL wedding dress appointment. This has been kind of a crazy nightmare getting this one additional style into the store for me to try on. But finally… after three months of shopping and trying on legitimately over 30 wedding dresses… WE GOT THE DRESS!! Woo woo! Super exciting. To celebrate we went to the Cheesecake Factory for a glass of wine and some dinner. Unfortunately, it was like pitch black in the restaurant and I wasn’t about to be that girl taking flash photos of her dinner in a dark restaurant. I had a glass of Reisling and the “SkinnyLicious” Mexican Tortilla Salad. I can’t even bring myself to actually say the word “Skinnylicious” out loud because it is so embarrassing. I appreciate the lightened up menu but that name is ridiculous. I found this picture online so I’m borrowing it. I don’t know if I honestly believe the nutrition stats on this salad because it was way too delicious (and had way too many delicious things in it) to be 540 calories. But whatever, it’s what I wanted to eat so I ate it… no big deal.
That was all from me on Monday!
Questions for you guys:
- Do you like restaurants that have a “healthy section” of the menu?
- How many wedding dresses did you try on total?
- Any hilarious pet stories to share?
Let’s do two more!
The end of spring always makes me a little sad because it’s the end of racing season. I love racing. I love racing more than I love running in fact… so I race a lot. I thought Broad Street would be my last race this Spring but, oh what the hell, let’s do two more. I’m keeping them simple and short… it’s the theme of the Spring!
I will be running the North Face Endurance Challenge 10K Trail Race in Sterling, VA on June 2nd
Aannnddd the Lawyers Have Heart 10K in Washington, DC on June 9th (I am not a lawyer, but I too have a heart)
I talked Mike into the trail race but I doubt he will get on board with Lawyers have Heart. He doesn’t like summer racing because he’s basically a human popsicle (he melts in the sun).
Questions for you guys:
- What’s left on the your spring racing calendar?
- Thoughts on summer races?
- Sun lover or sun hater?
Studio Review: Philly Power Yoga
Super exciting week ahead because I have not one but TWO Philly based fitness class reviews for you! I always wish I could get to Philly more often to hang with Sarah and as luck would have it I have been in Philly the past TWO weekends! Two weeks ago, Mike and I made the trip up north to run the Broad Street Run on Sunday. On Saturday, I had some time to kill in the late morning, so I decided to check out a yoga class at Philly Power Yoga. I took the 10:45 am 75 minute class with Troy (Steve was scheduled to teach but apparently he was sick). Here’s what I thought!
I miss hot yoga… I miss it so so so much. For me, there is just nothing quite as detoxifying. I was thrilled to try a new hot vinyasa studio (Bikram is not my thing). I was curious to see what the studio was going to be like. Since heated yoga is kind of a hot trend (haha sweet pun right?) right now, some yoga studios are getting a little too trendy / uptight for my taste. That was definitely not the case here. The studio had a really organic vibe to it and a very friendly / welcoming atmosphere. There were a variety of people, skill levels, body types, etc all represented, I dug it. Troy was SUPER friendly when I checked in too. He made me feel really welcome in the new space. I got there pretty early and gave myself almost 15 full minutes in the room to center and adjust to the temperature.
I haven’t practiced in a heated room for a while, so I was prepared to get a little light headed. I had two options upon entering the room, practice in front of a full length mirror or in front of the room’s heaters. I chose the heaters. I don’t do mirrors in yoga, it’s not good for my soul. We got started and I really enjoyed the class! I had two very basic intentions – sweat and lengthen, and I definitely got both. I wasn’t pouring sweat the way I normally do during hot yoga because I think the room wasn’t as humid as I am used to (DC and humidity are basically synonyms). All the classes are mixed levels at this studio so that class moved through relatively basic postures. Troy’s sequencing was great though and he made an effort to offer modifications for everyone.
I really enjoyed it and worked up a solid sweat. I left feeling rejuvenated and ready to race!
Philly Power Yoga was a great value for the price too. I paid $18 for a drop in class, mat, and towel rental, which is pretty good by many fitness class standards. There are even better deals if you buy a pass or membership. There is also a Pilates studio associated (Thrive Pilates) that I’d love to go back and try that out!
Questions for you guys:
- Hot yoga, love it or hate it?
- How did you get sweaty this weekend?
- Yoga or Pilates?
WIAW – low on groceries
It’s time again for What I Ate Wednesday! This week is a Tuesday’s worth of eats but I really need to stop doing this on days when we are tragically low on groceries. I’m a meticulous grocery shopper / meal planner. 99% of what I buy each week is fresh food (produce, meat, and dairy) with only minimal pantry supplies. I find it’s the best way to stay on budget, eat whole / healthy foods, and never have to throw anything away (wasting food makes my soul hurt). Therefore, by the time the end of the week comes, we are really scraping the bottom of the barrel. Here’s what a Tuesday looks like when we desperately need a trip to Trader Joe’s.
Tuesday started like every Tuesday starts for me… with a session with my trainer. My legs were still not 100% recovered from Sunday’s Broad Street Run so he graciously agreed we could do upper body and I would do my lower body on my own later in the week. Of course, he decided to absolutely kill me during our session… but that’s why I pay him, right?
I wanted nothing more than a delicious fruit smoothie for breakfast, but sadly we are out of frozen bananas (smoothie disaster). In the mix was frozen pineapple, frozen mango, frozen blueberries, soy milk, chocolate protein powder, flax seed, and unsweetened cocoa powder. I finished off the soy milk and I could’ve used a LITTLE more. My smoothie was a little too thick, but that’s ok 🙂 I had a couple spoonfuls to tide me over and enjoyed the rest at my desk at work. Unpictures – cup of coffee and my vitamins, standard.
Mid-morning I got a little hungry so I snacked on a mini-Luna bar I had stashed at my desk.
I had this really awkward and LONG meeting at work. I wasn’t super hungry before the meeting but didn’t want to get hungry in the middle of it (since it was super long). I decided to split my lunch up into two parts. I was craving a veggie-ful salad so I grabbed a small one from the salad bar place across the street. I almost never eat there because they’re STUPID expensive (the pay by the weight places always are) but I made an exception and kept my salad simple.
After the meeting was over, I was definitely hungry again for a little more lunch. I broke into a Diet Dr. Pepper that I brought as a “I have a 3 hour meeting today” treat. I also ate the most bizarre sandwich that tasted amazing. Two slices of Ezekial bread, a touch of wasabi mayo, a Trader Joe’s chili lime chicken burger, black beans, and a slice of gouda cheese. This was a completely random assortment of items and flavors we had in the refrigerator that ended up being delicious. Super score.
On my way out of the office, I snacked on ye another mini granola bar. Apparently that’s a theme today? Got this one for free at the Broad Street expo… it was just ok. Mike and I had a meeting with our wedding coordinator last night and I knew we wouldn’t be eating dinner until late. This was a meek attempt to tide myself over.
Our meeting ended up lasting a little longer than I thought because I had 100 million questions. Afterwards, we went right to Trader Joe’s to grocery shop, but of course at this point we were both starving. I don’t like grocery shopping while hungry, but I did my best just to stick to the list and get out as soon as possible. I managed only two impulse purchases and ate a little of both before arriving home. Chocolate covered, peanut butter filled pretzels and corn chips. Both amazeballs by the way.
Since I snacked a bit on the way home from the grocery store, I kept dinner simple. English muffin pizzas! Whole wheat English muffins, pizza sauce, light mozzarella cheese, diced red pepper, and pancetta. OM NOM NOM.
One thing I severely missed during this day? Fresh fruit. Whole pieces of fresh fruit are a DAILY occurrence for me so I hate when we run out. Don’t worry, I brought like two today 🙂
Questions for you guys:
- Favorite thing you ate yesterday?
- Thoughts on English muffin pizzas?
Broad Street Run 10 Miler – Race Recap / Review
Totally tried to get this up yesterday but it just didn’t happen for me. Too much fun this weekend made for a SLEEPY Monday. Also, it’s raining and cold here which doesn’t facilitate getting pumped up for a Monday. This weekend Mike and I participated in the Broad Street Run in Philadelphia. I jump at the chance to run races in Philly because that is where my best-friend and lady-life partner Sarah lives. Over the past three years of her living in Philly and me in DC, we’ve gotten really good at making the trip and I feel like her friends in Philly are my friends now too! Friday night, we made the trip up I-95N. Saturday included breakfast at Schlesinger’s, a good stretch out at Philly Power Yoga (post coming later this week), a trip down to Lincoln Financial Field to get our race packets, watching the Derby on South Street, and dinner on Rittenhouse Square. Also, Juno was on TV. Whoot whoot! Sunday was, of course, RACE DAY. Here’s how it went.
The race didn’t start until 8:30 pm but you had to take the Broad Street Line subway to get to the start. Races that involve taking public transportation make me nervous (I had an almost calamity at the Baltimore Half Marathon) so we were up and on a train at 6:15 am. We arrived at about 6:40 and then just waited around for almost two hours, which was not my favorite part. Add to that… it was FREEZING and WINDY. Also, they claimed that bag check closed at 8:00 am so I had to part with my warm layers (I should have just done throwaway clothes) for a whole 30 minutes before race start.
The starting area was CROWDED. Huge lines everywhere, massive crowds trying to move around, and people were getting restless / feisty. It wasn’t my most pleasant pre-race experience. At one point, I was trying to get to my corral and I just stood, stuck in a massive, unmoving crowd for legitimately 15 minutes. I never actually made it to my corral. I saw a break in the fence and just hopped in. The corrals were not being strictly enforced at all anyways, and I was getting cranky so I needed to RUN.
Mercifully, I finally crossed the starting line and got going. However, at that exact moment the clouds broke and the sun starting beating down hard. By mile one, I was baking in my long sleeved jacket. I knew I was going to be miserable if I kept it on so I pulled over for a quick minute to remove my layer (I was wearing a tank top underneath), quickly re situate, and get back on the road. I ended up losing about a minute and a half of time, which is fine but kind of annoying. The race course and the crowd support was EXCELLENT. You start all the way up Broad street in North Philly and run a straight shot down Broad, around City Hall, through Center City, and down to the Navy Yard in South Philly.
You know how some days are just great running days? This was not one of those days. My legs just felt tired pretty much the whole race. I was holding a great pace but it felt tough. By mile 5, I was getting tired and I thought to myself “Uh oh, I still have 5 miles to go and I’m already tired.” When I start getting tired during a race, I try and use my ego to my own advantage. I stuck to the outside of the course, so I wouldn’t be tempted to walk in front of all the spectators. Hey, whatever you gotta do right? Coming around City Hall was awesome and I knew that my friends would be on Broad between City Hall and South Street. I saw Sarah (and gave her a high five) but missed Kristy (womp womp). Then it was another ~ 4 miles to go. I was on pace to meet my 10 mile PR from December and, even though I was tired and my knee was starting to hurt a little, I was not going to let up. I kicked it into high gear for the last half a mile and flew to the finish line.
Unfortunately, there was a HUGE backup of people at the finish line, so I was forced to stop completely 1 step across the finish line. Not ideal. I clicked off my watch and didn’t even look at it while I tried to navigate this massive clog of people. When I finally got funneled into the finish area and looked at my watch, I realized that I set a new PR by 4 seconds! 1:31:47 by my clock. However, this is an unofficial PR since my chip time was a 90 seconds longer thanks to my stop to change my shirt. Irritating, but that’s ok. I’ll keep my PR from December for now but I am gunning for a sub 1:30 10 miler this Fall.
I picked up my medal and my finisher food (which was BALLER by the way. Major points for this Broad Street Run. Soft pretzels and a bag of delicious goodies) and made my way into the finish area. If the start area was crowded, the finish area was worse. Mike and I had decided to meet up at the Dunkin Donuts tent. I realized immediately this was a huge mistake, because they were giving out free drink and donut samples. It was mobbed. It took us over 30 minutes to find each other because apparently our bag check bus was late and Mike had to wait for a while to get his cell phone back. After we met up, we took a couple pictures and high tailed it to the subway. Thankfully, that was not as bad as I thought it would be. We got on a train easily and were back in Center City by noon. [As a note, many runners at Broad Street wore Red Socks as a tribute to Boston. It was a really nice touch! And for interested parties, Mike ran approx 1:10. He’s really coming back from his injury and doing great!]
In summation: Broad Street was super fun and energetic! You really get a taste of Philly and that rocks. Logistically, this race is challenging because of the huge crowds and small start / finish areas. I’m so glad we did it and maybe we will in a few years, but not next year.
After bagels and showers back at Sarah’s, we cabbed up to the Northern Liberties for a post race celebration of beer, jenga, and ping pong at Frankford Hall. I wasn’t feeling 100% (I got an exercise induced headache after the race) so I stuck to soda and agreed to be our designated driver. I didn’t mind at all, we had so much fun! By 7 pm, Mike and I were on the road back to DC. We hated to leave Philly (and Sarah) but we’ll be back again VERY soon!
Questions for you guys:
- Have you ever run Broad Street? What did you think?
- Did you race this weekend?
- Favorite beer?
Wedding Updates – April
Woohooo only 11 months to go until I get to marry this sexy piece of man candy. Bahaha this is easily my favorite pictures from our engagement shoot. In fact, all my favorites are the ones of us being silly and laughing… because that’s just really us. We only have one where we’re making a kind of serious face and it kind of makes me giggle.
Ok let’s do some updates from the month of April. I feel really good about where we are in the wedding planning process. We’ve got like all the big stuff taken care of and it has been ZERO stress. Let’s recap what we know so far:
We got all the photos from our engagement shoot! We are SO pleased with them. Anyone in the New Jersey / Pennsylvania / New York / Delaware area looking for an excellent photographer consider using Kevin Isabelle Photography
We booked our ceremony location! Mike and I are thrilled that we will be married at Dumbarton United Methodist Church in Georgetown. We are both very committed to the issue of Marriage Equality and I am thrilled that we were able to locate a beautiful historic church that shares our values on this issue. We will also be able to have our family friend co-officiate the wedding, which is perfect. We can also use their musicians during the ceremony… another item ticked off the list!
We got our wedding photographer! Rachel Pearlman photography will be doing our wedding and I could not be happier. Rachel has done my cousin’s wedding and numerous family parties / baby shoots. Her work is impeccable (in fact, she won Best of the Knot for Philadelphia in 2012 and Bride’s Choice on Wedding Wire).
We picked our wedding colors! I had a hard time here because I’m not particularly artistic or creative. March is also an interesting time. It’s not winter but it’s also not time yet for traditional spring colors. Ultimately, we’ve settled on black, gold, and dark green. I’m really happy with the choice and I think my bridesmaids are really excited to wear black (also… so easy to pick dresses now!)
One minor snag that has come up… I’m having a small trouble with the salon where I am shopping for my wedding dress. I am pretty sure it is resolved now after a long, honest conversation with the store manager the other day. I have asked them to order 3 additional styles I would like to try on that were not in the store. I was not anticipating that to be an issue, but it has been harder than I expected! Luckily, I have confirmed that those three dresses are currently IN STORE, in my size, and waiting for me to try on next Wednesday night when my mom is in town. Phew OK!
Next Steps?
- Now that I have our engagement photos I am ALMOST done with our wedding website!! Woop woop!
- We also need to design our Save the Dates. I found some cute free templates online. I’m having fun playing around with them.
- Still finalizing a contract with our DJ but we’re almost there!
- Meet with our wedding coordinator at the Key Bridge Marriott. We’re going to meet her next week and schedule out our tastings / planning meetings. I personally CANNOT WAIT for the tastings… BEST part of wedding planning.
- Get this dress business figured out. The dress is the only part that I’ve been indecisive about. I hate indecision and I normally do not struggle with that. For some reason, it’s been really easy to be indecisive about the dress. I just want to try on these three additional styles and make a choice.
As always… everyone PLEASE feel free to chime in with info / advice. I welcome your sage wisdom 🙂
The Liebster Award
I’m super stoked that Sara from Magia e Pasta nominated me for a Liebster Award. If you haven’t checked out her blog… get over there and take a look! She rocks 🙂 Liebster Awards are a way to show love to other people’s blogs. Woohoo!
Here is how it works:
- I list 11 Random Facts about myself.
- I answer 11 questions that Sara wrote for me.
- I nominate 11 bloggers.
- I create 11 questions for my nominees.
- I display the Liebster award.
11 Random Facts about Me:
- I played competitive softball from the time I was 8 until I was 18, year round, on multiple teams including travel, Varsity, and district teams. It was kiiiiinnnnddddd of my life. I didn’t pick up a softball for 5 years after that. I was totally burnt out. I finally started playing again on a slow pitch team (I wrote a post about it here) and I love them so much. Makes me remember why I loved that game so much.
- My brother and I may have accidentally killed our hamster when we were little. The exterminator came to spray the house and we took Frankie (our teddy bear hamster) out to play when he left. Frankie ran behind a piece of furniture where the exterminator had sprayed and well, he died like a day later. It’s a very traumatic childhood scar. I’m pretty sure my mom stopped having our house exterminated after that. I’m really careful with animals and babies now.
- I still have my baby blanket… DO NOT JUDGE ME. I’m hoping that I can hold on to it for my own kids some day.
- Despite being really active and loving to be outdoors, I’m a closet TV junkie. I keep up with a shocking number of shows (including some super embarrassing ones like The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Also pretty sure my best friend and I are the last people in the world still watching Grey’s Anatomy). No reality though… not my thing!
- One of my favorite rainy day activities to going to see independent movies at E Street Cinema in DC. They have the best concession stand in the history of movie theaters (their popcorn is… life changing). I recently went to see Paradise: Hope (a German film, part of the DC Film Festival) and 56 Up.
- I hate cantaloupe. I like every fruit except cantaloupe. This is a huge issue for me with fruit salad… it’s ALWAYS in there. Bleh I just don’t like the flavor and usually eat around it. I always remember places that serve fruit salad with no cantaloupe though… it’s like they get me.
- I own a road bike but haven’t ridden it in 3 years. I get really stressed out riding a bike in the city so I just walk everywhere. I consider anything within 2 miles to be easy walking distance.
- I volunteer at an animal shelter most weekends. I firmly believe in adopting rescue pets so now I give my time at the Washington Animal Rescue League, the same shelter where I adopted Fig.
- I am currently reading three books: Intuitive Eating, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, and If I Stay. Sometimes I get very dedicated to one book and others I prefer to jump around. I’m currently feeling the latter.
- I always eat eggs at brunch. Often, sweet items like pancakes and waffles tempt me but I can never commit. Brunch doesn’t feel right without eggs. Go to item is an omelette (with cheese) with toast and potatoes.
- I have an unnatural obsession with shoes. I easily own 100 pairs of shoes and I wear heels on pretty much every occasion. I will not apologize, they are my favorite thing in the world! If I’m feeling down, nothing picks me up like exercising, shopping for shoes, or shopping for books 🙂
Questions from Sara:
- If you could describe yourself in one word, what would it be and why? – I think it would be… friendly. Which might sound lame, but I consider a very useful quality.
- You can choose any time period (other than today) to live in. Which would it be? – I think the 1920s because it looks downright fabulous.
- Cool-Ranch or Nacho Cheese? – Cool Ranch all the way
- Someone hands you an airplane ticket with a blank destination. Where do you fly? – South America. It’s the next continent I want to explore. I’m hoping to get there on our honeymoon 🙂
- You have an all-expenses-paid trip to the grocery store: which grocery store do you go to and what would be the highlights of your basket? – I’d go to Whole Foods if someone else was paying (I definitely do not shop there because I cannot afford it) and I would buy fresh seafood, specialty cooking oils, and TONS of fresh organic produce (especially fruit, which I could eat by the bucketful)
- If you could have dinner with any three people (living or dead), who would they be and what would you eat? – I’d want to eat healthy food with Michelle Obama, high tea with Princess Diana, and hot dogs & beer with Jenny Finch.
- Feasibility and salary aside, what is your dream job? – Ideally, I’d teach fitness classes and be a personal trainer. I love fitness and imagine it would be really fun to share it with others for a living.
- You can have one meal, one dessert, and one beverage for the rest of your life, what would they be? – Pasta with Meatballs and Red Sauce, Ice Cream Sundae, and Reisling
- What is one book you can read over and over again? – The Giver by Lois Lowry. I have loved dystopian novels from a very young age.
- If you could speak any language, what would you speak? – Italian, just because I think it’s beautiful.
- How do you describe your blog to friends/family/anyone who asks? – I usually say its mostly about running, fitness, and food with some occasional other stuff sprinkled in 🙂
My 11 Nominees:
- Minutes Per Mile
- A Better Year to a Better Life
- Bring It Om
- Passion and Laughter
- Sneaker Therapy
- Lavender Parking
- Wicked Healthy Washingtonian
- Health, Happiness, Humour
- Transparent with Myself
- Peanut Butter and Adrenaline
- District Sweats
My Questions for Them:
- Favorite Pizza Topping(s)?
- What was the last book you read?
- What is your favorite race distance? You can say 0 if you’re not a runner!
- What’s your favorite brand of sneaker?
- Biggest guilty pleasure?
- Why did you start a blog?
- Do you have a go to workout buddy? Who?
- When you go to the movies, what do you get for a snack?
- Cats or dogs? Or hamsters?
- Favorite color of nail polish for fingers? Toes?
- What’s one thing you’re really excited to do this summer?
WIAW – An all around intuitive day
Thank you all so much for your kind words yesterday! You really are the best!
For right now, I’m kind of enjoying the idea of What I Ate Wednesday, so I decided to do it again and actually link up with Peas and Crayons.
This week I decided to cover my Monday eats! I really did not have my normal appetite on Monday. I don’t know if it was because I knew my parents were about to put Bernie down, gloomy crappy weather, or the fact that I didn’t work out first thing in the morning but I just was NOT hungry. Since I’ve been working on intuitive eating, I decided to just go with it! I didn’t end up eating breakfast until about 10:15 am but when I was finally hungry I ate a pomegranate greek yogurt with sliced almonds, chopped pecans, and flax seeds. Accompanied of course by a cup of coffee and my vitamins. I take a daily women’s multi-vitamin, Calcium, fish oil, and Biotin (for skin, nails, and hair – it’s awesome I love it!)
I intended to work out on my lunch hour but I realized I forgot a towel to shower after… womp womp. Oh well, I just worked through the day and broke for lunch around 2 pm. I made a healthy version of shepherds pie over the weekend and brought leftovers to work. This recipe features tons of veggies (one bag of frozen mixed veggies, one bag of shaved brussels sprouts, and one half a yellow onion), ground turkey, and mashed garlic sweet potatoes on top. It doesn’t hold it’s shape well when traveling so it kind of turned into a mashed up pile but it was delicious.
I’m normally a very committed afternoon snacker but didn’t get hungry until 5 pm for my normal snack. I decided to just listen to my body and eat if and when I got hungry. I finally broke into my afternoon snack which was (predictably) an apple, scoop of peanut butter, and a mini vanilla yogurt. Normally if I have yogurt for breakfast I bring something else for a snack, simply for variety. We were really low on groceries though, so I didn’t have a lot of options… a second yogurt it was! It was delicious though 🙂
I stayed at work until 6 pm and then talked to my mom on the phone (about poor Bernie) until 7 pm. By the time I got home, I was really not in the mood to go work out. But Mike was heading up to the apartment building gym for a quick run and I decided I would feel better if I just moved my body in SOME way. I decided to practice “intuitive exercise” and see what appealed to me when I got up there. I normally follow a pretty strict training / workout schedule, so it was nice to give myself a little break to do whatever I felt like. I hopped on an elliptical, turned on Jeopardy (my favorite show to watch while exercising), and did a 35 minute hill climbing workout. I worked up a nice little sweat, did a good long stretch, and called it a night. Dancing with the Stars came on while I was cooling down so I watched the first dance. I can’t get into that show though… it’s too much of a time commitment!
After our workout I was FINALLY hungry but we really needed to go to the grocery store for the week. I knew I couldn’t shop super hungry so I threw together a really quick whole wheat wrap with horseradish hummus, a slice of cheese, and a ton of spinach. It totally hit the spot!
After a quick trip to the grocery store, I unloaded our items and poured myself a little glass of sweet white wine. Got this bottle at CVS for $3.95. I am turning into QUITE the connoisseur of cheap wine…
I was in the mood 🙂 I was kind of hungry again but didn’t want to start making a whole big dinner. Instead, I heated up some leftover brown basmati rice and black beans and topped them with one egg over easy. It was the perfect combination of protein and carbs to top off my hunger.
And right before I brushed my teeth and got in bed to read I had two squares of a Ritter Sport we bought at Trader Joe’s. DELICIOUS. Most days should end on a slightly sweet note 🙂
christinazimm
Pennies on the Run 