Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Happy day.

{Via BrentDPayne on flickr}

I don't think anyone reads this but... I have exciting news to share.  After 14 months and 7 interviews for various jobs, I am accepting an offer this morning and officially putting in my two weeks notice.  !!!!  This is incredibly exciting for me as I have been unhappy in my current job for a long time and have been quite *underemployed* as they say.  This new opportunity is an amazing one and I feel so so grateful to have made it to the last step.

It is such a relief to be moving on.  I am nervous about the reaction of one of my bosses but today will be a good day.  It's also supposed to be 57 degrees, and last night I got in a solid 4.5 mile run without any winter gear since we're having a little heat wave here.  What are you happy about on this Tuesday? {Just in case anyone does read me...}

Monday, January 30, 2012

Weekly goals.

{Via we heart it}

Yesterday, I made peanut butter pie. More specifically, Iowa Girl Eats Peanut Butter Pie. Urgh. It's sooooo good and easy. Almost like a peanut butter-y cheesecake. It's really, really sweet though, which means you don't need (or want) more than one piece. Until late last night before bed when I snuck another half piece. Shhh.

What are your goals this week?  The weather is supposed to beautiful (for January in the Midwest at least) this week, with upper 40s today and FIFTY-something degrees tomorrow.  Here's what I want to accomplish by Friday:

Finish two good runs outside, including one long run.
Do one 90 minute yoga class.
Get my scale back on track. 

Here goes.

Friday, January 27, 2012

Week 2.

I saw an article in Chicago Magazine this month about the best health-related apps for your chosen device. I haven't had a chance to explore them yet but check it out.

This week has been a frustrating one. I struggled a lot to stay healthy and kept track of every.single.thing I ate all week. I was *miraculously* able to stay at my calorie intake goal every day, went on several long walks, and a run the other night. But my scale has been acting wacky, fluctuating a lot, and today registered a reading that did not make me happy. I even thought about pretending it didn't happen and skipping sharing this week because I'm convinced the stupid thing is broken but you know what? That's not the point of this. So. Here it is.

Week 2 = +.6 pounds
Total loss = -1.2 pounds

I'm going to focus on the fact that I'm planning to leave work early today and get a run in during daylight because it's supposed to be 40+ degrees. Happy weekend.

{Via we heart it}

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Food blogs.



Y'all, it has been a dreary few days here. I can't stop thinking about vineyards and wine country.  Arghghgh March needs to get here soon!

I have been on a serious search for food & fitness blogs lately. I know, those two might not go that well together. (Except for you Iowa Girl Eats). Maybe the food blog reading should go first, followed by the fitness blogs? Here's my list so far:

The Food Evalanglist; a mix of recipes with g.o.r.g.e.o.u.s. photos and layout. I am drooling over the Purist Pumpkin Pie recipe. I must not have gotten my pumpkin fill this season- it's probably time to fix that asap.

Oh She Glows; chock full of healthy vegan recipes. I'm not vegan, but my dad has been for just over a year (for health reasons) so I like to keep my eyes open for exciting recipes for my parents to try. I really want to make her Basic Oatmeal Squares and Avocado-Lime Black Bean Salad.

Ok, so the new blog list is a bit short. I spent too much time ogling recipes on both of these. My fitness search has been a failure so far too... more updates on that later.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Artsy motivation.

I have been taking small actions over the past few weeks to help me eat healthier and avoid {unreasonable}snacking as I try to get leaner. So far I have been eating a lot more fruit simply because I put a large, pretty bowl on my counter and starting keeping my fruit there instead of hidden in my fridge like usual. It also helps that I have set a rule to only eat fruit as snacks while I'm at work. That and the fact that it's ugly cold outside and the closest option to my office {meaning only one block away} is a 7-11. I digress. How neat are these fruit bowls too? Swoon. I think I would end up eating even more apples just to fill one of these back up:

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

A warm-up.

I am even more sore from Sunday's yoga festivities than I was yesterday. Second day soreness for the win? It's called delayed onset muscle soreness or muscle fever. {Thanks Wikipedia}. The cause is "eccentric exercise." Although the technical definition is not what I immediately thought of {weird exercise}I think doing a variety of one-legged poses, including one called The Bird, and almost falling on my face qualifies. I guess I should do this Level 2 yoga thing more often.

I came across an article yesterday about a new thing called Snowga being offered at a ski establishment in Connecticut.

{Via we heart it}

Does SNOWGA it sound like a silly dog name to anyone else? Whatever, I think it would be a fun experience. The point is to do a few yoga poses to warm up for skiing, maybe to accomplish something like this:


Unlikely. Meet me on the bunny hill.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Bananas.

Strange muscles in my arms and core are crazy sore this morning from a Level 2 yoga class last night - this teacher legit kicks my butt. Every class I go to of hers is different. Last night there were a lot of one-legged poses (which is not the proper term I know, but I can't really do them anyways, at all) and planks. Ugh plank. My arms are so weak.

Even though my teacher is amazing it's always hard to motivate myself to go. It's a solid 90 minutes of class and it's a 30 minute walk each way from my house, meaning that it takes up my whole evening if I take a class during the week. Whine, whine I know. This is why I'm putting this out there on the interwebz. For motivation.

I also discovered a new product this weekend at TJ's (err, Trader Joe's). Go Bananas - frozen banana slices covered in chocolate (at only 33 calories each!).  It might just be new to me. Yummm.

Friday, January 20, 2012

Quinoa pops.

{Via Time Out Chicago, Don Morris}

I recently discovered this great place Protein Bar downtown. I was unsure at first after hearing that (almost) everything has quinoa in it. Super healthy-pants foods aren't always my thing. But after one bite of their vegan buffalo sauce and omg I'm a convert. Also I pretty much love this drawing I found after googling pictures of the sign since I was too cold / embarassed to linger outside on my lunch break yesterday long enough to snap a fuzzy cell phone picture of the place.


Please disregard the disturbing 14 degrees that appear on my computer screen here. I treated myself to a "barrito" for lunch - that would be a tofu, buffalo sauce burrito. I swear there was a hint of blue cheese in every bite and the pop from each quinoa pearl was very satisfying. Pearl, is that right? It's not the easiest thing to eat at your computer though. Awkward keyboard cleaning was necessary afterwards. I need to experiment with a quinoa recipe at home next!

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Lean Arms Pyramid.

Here's some motivation for this (chilly) Thursday:


I had planned to get up earlier this morning and do these (with "girl" push-ups, yes).  Guess what?  I sit here drinking coffee, not doing it.  Should I be embarrassed that I don't quite know what dips or tummy tucks are or how to do them?  This calls for some You Tubing. 

This week I saw a number on the scale that I hadn't seen for an entire year, probably because I hadn't stepped on it since Thanksgiving and the holidays are dangerous cookie gorging times for me. That was not a happy moment. I know a lot of people banish the scale, relying on how they feel instead, but I am tall enough that I don't necessarily notice a 5 pound weight gain and things can get away from me quickly if I'm not careful to keep healthy during the week and check-in with myself and the evil scale on occasion.

I also need deadlines. I have a skiing vacation coming up in California the second week of March, and I'd like to be in better shape for in. Thinner on skis = faster down the hill? I'm not athetically inclined, but maybe :)  Weekly weigh-ins it is. Every Thursday.

Week 1 -> -1.8 pounds

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

The challenge.

My 29th birthday is coming up in just over two months. It feels weird to approach 30; I don't feel very different than I did 10 years ago, except being stronger in my convictions about what I like and don't like, and more emotionally mature about certain things. Err, sometimes. And happy to be living in a great big city instead of a tiny town.


I have a friend with a list of "30 things to do before 30" and it made me start thinking about doing a challenge to myself for my 29th year. I have always had a complicated relationship with food and exercise; I love to eat (umm, like most people, yes) and trying new restaurants is one of my favorite things. But I allow myself to indulge too much, too often, and that has resulted in unwanted pounds piling on that I'd like to get rid of. This challenge is about more than that though, I want this to be a change - to stop feeling guilty about what I put in my mouth, to stop overeating so much on my "indulgence" days that it takes a full day for me to feel normal again.

I also want to challenge my body. I have been a runner since high school, and a racer since college - lots of 5ks, a few 10ks, and one half-marathon. But I couldn't do two "real" push-ups if you paid me. And I am slow. Maybe jogger is a better word for my skills. I want to be faster and stronger. We'll see how it goes.