A Little Check-In and a Solid Tuesday

Since we only have 6 more months to enjoy 2010, I thought I would check in with myself on my progress on my New Year's Goals as well as a few goals for the month of July. There are a couple of people who have also shared their goals for the month. I think having some down time during the summer allows for self-reflection.

My goals for this year weren't so much goals as they were striving to be a healthier me and be more content with the state of things in my life.  There were a few things I outlined for myself that I did not post on the blog but want to share with you now:

• Be the healthiest me possible!
• Continue to make exercise a priority in my daily life (as much as possible with my injury. I was on point up until my stress fracture)
• Run a 5K without any walking breaks (not cleared to run yet :-/)
• Eat pure, simple, tasty foods that are nutritionally valuable (check)
• Continue to strive to be a nicer, more patient person (work in progress)
• Incorporate more people into my life that are supportive of me, made me feel good, and that I care for and truly enjoy being around (so far so good)
• Find the ability to be bold and take risks when they are worth taking (TBD)

My progress is in purple.

The month of June was full of many celebrations. I attended my friend's wedding in Austin, had a birthday party, went to Chicago, had another birthday dinner, plus some other fun things! And I couldn't forget my 5 Before 25 Challenge which I successfully completed!

There were also a few things that didn't thrill me about the month - my lack of motivation for exercise, my increased intake of carbs (they aren't bad, I just picked the good ones over other things like veggies and fruits), and spent a lot of money.

This month I hope to:

• Incorporate 1 new recipe a week from this book I purchased for my birthday. What better to get on track than a book entitled Clean Food?!
• Snack a lot less. There were a lot of treats, snacks, and nibbles that went undocumented and I believe they add up. While I don't feel drastically different, I know I need to eat more intuitively and ease up on the nighttime snackage ;)
• Move a little bit more while still letting my foot heal. This has really been the never-ending injury and while I'm sick of it, I can't deny that I'm not 100% healed and need to relax a bit on my activity. Yes, it hurts me to say that after a month of good physical activity.

My target: look and feel fantastic by the start of August when I head to Miami with my family for a long weekend! I'm hoping to share updates along the way.

On to today's eats:

The East Coast is being slammed with an intense heat wave this week. The temperature hit 102 today and it seems like I discovered my love for overnight hot cereal just in time!

This bowl has 1/4c blueberries mixed in and is topped with 1/2T total of almond and peanut butter.

I had a great day at work. It was full of various meetings, lots to do, and I was focused for much of the day. It definitely made my first day after the long weekend fly by!

I broke for lunch an hour after I had planned to because of a meeting. I cut it short because my stomach rumbling was being disruptive and I got shaky. Not too good. I brought a salad topped with 1/2c white beans, beans, a carrot, and feta topped with 21 seasoning salute, dill, and Annie's lite honey mustard dressing. I also had an ounce of leftover baked tofu.

I broke for my snack around 4:45 - a pear with a light smear of AB.

After work I headed to Trader Joe's to pick up a few things and then got started on dinner. Back in the spring I tried a recipe for lentil sloppy joes and I had a huge craving for them tonight. I made the full recipe this time and am excited to have leftovers for the rest of the week.

I made an open faced sandwich with 2% cheese and spinach on top of my favorite high fiber loaf. There were also extra little bites during clean up. It just tasted sooooo good :-)

Dessert was a cup of strawberries with a drop of 1% whipped cottage cheese, cinnamon, and a bit of AB.

My kitchen is clean and I am going to relax and prep breakfast for tomorrow. Any guesses on what it may be?!  :-D

What's going on in July for you? Any big plans? Goals you are working towards?

An Almost Goodbye to 2009

How is it possible that on one hand, I cannot believe how fast this year has flown by, and on the other, I am ecstatic to be ringing in a new year and new decade in just a few short hours? When 2009 began, I was in such a different place than I am as the year ends (and I’m even writing this on an airplane to prove my point!) and it has been quite a journey.

This year has included:

• being appointed Chair of a new leadership development program for SDT
• a Quarter-Life Crisis
• being laid-off from my job
• attending Inaugural festivities
• my grandmother passing away
• completing the Avon 2-Day walk (39.3 miles) with my mom!
• Travels to: Dallas (x7 - that I can remember), Pittsburgh (x2), Tampa, Houston (x2), New York (x2), Las Vegas, Indianapolis, Ft. Lauderdale, ISRAEL
• Being part of a professional development program that really helped me take a step forward in my professional identity
• a new part-time job
• Numerous resumes and cover letters written and jobs interviewed for
• Starting a personal blog that has morphed into a gluten-free food blog
• Realizing what I hope to do professionally one day
• Realizing what's important in life and who some of my truest friends are
  

Calling this year a roller coaster may be an understatement, but just like a kid who's exhilarated after riding a scary amusement park ride, I feel like I am a stronger, more confident me who is ushering in a new era. Ok, maybe it's not that dramatic, but I feel as though the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of the year have taught me important life lessons that will help me continue to be a better person with each and every day.

I'm hoping that 2010 will bring new challenges, adventures, and successes that are different from this past year. There's something to be said for the peace-of-mind that a full-time job brings!

Last year, instead of making New Year's resolutions, I set a few goals for myself that I was hoping to achieve. I recently discovered this list and am excited to say that, despite them all being on-going characteristics to embody and habits to act upon, I have successfully accomplished 2.5 of my 3 goals!

This year, I hope to continue to make progress on last year's goals and also to accomplish a few more things, including running a 5K race without any walking breaks and to practice being bold and taking risks when they are worth taking and to take advantage of opportunities that feel right to me.

Thank yo to those of you who have been my support system, cheerleaders, loyal blog readers, friends, and family (both true family and "adopted") over this past year. There were tons of reasons to smile over the year, and it's the people I was with that made those experiences even more special!!

What are some of your goals for the new year? Highlights from 2009?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Time for change to keep things interesting!

If you scroll down, you'll notice that there has been quite a gap in my blog posts. I'd like to say that I have some brilliant, compelling reason for not updating this more frequently, but I don't. Part of me hasn't been sure what to write about as of late, another part of me has been struggling with which parts of updates I'm ready to share with cyberworld. So, as we say goodbye to a weekend of winter and welcome, yes, welcome a sunny week of fall, I'm making a couple of changes of my own.

Last week I started work, on a part-time basis for now. I will share a few things: I'm working at a place were I can definitely see myself working for a longer period of time. This change will hopefully come soon yet for now, I'm welcoming the opportunity to ease myself back into the workforce. This job is in a field about which I am passionate and will give me experience being "on the ground" instead of coaching and teaching. It will definitely be a fun challenge to adapt and apply all that I learned at Hillel into this new adventure. I will make sure to keep you all posted as this opportunity develops and when it turns full time (and the craziness of the past few months is over)! So, my first change is that for the first time in a while, I spent a nice part of my evening preparing for the work week - wrapping up chores and packing lunches and snacks. It sure does feel good to have a new routine!

Over the weekend, I ventured out to Virginia for some quality time with my friend L. We had many activities on our to-do list: seeing Couples Retreat, the gym to get in our 6 mile workouts since it was cold and raining, watching Texas beat OU, and some shopping. Basically - your quintessential girls weekend. While we were at L's apartment, she was showing me some of her goodies from a recent trip to Trader Joe's. We got carried away and ended up doing a our of her cabinets, discussing which products were smarter choices, other products she could try, and so on. During all of this, I had a couple of epiphanies:

1) I will be shifting my blog to have more of a food focus (life events will of course still be included!). You'll notice pictures of things I eat throughout the day, new gluten-free / natural / healthy / interesting food finds, recipes, and more. If there's something you would like to see, leave a comment below and I will do my best to incorporate it!!

2) I absolutely love looking at the foods people keep in their houses. And, when those friends and family that I visit start talking about new food ideas, healthier options, etc. I love sharing the food knowledge I've acquired over the past few years. It would be great to find a way to make this into a part-time job of some sort, maybe as a grocery guide or grocery consultant. Someone who accompanies people on a trip to the grocery store to show them healthy, quick and easy, diet-specific (where applicable) products to help boost their pantries and the nutritional value of the foods they buy, cook and eat. What do we think? Any suggestions for people to contact for guidance? Anyone who may be interested in this? This idea is definitely still in the incubation phase, but it something I'd love to get off the ground.

So, as this blog continues to evolve (I guess as my activities and I continue to do so as well) I hope you'll let me know what you think and keep following my recent musings!