Slow down, sister

Sometimes life gives us sign so big we can’t ignore them.

They stop us in our tracks, knock is to the ground and say, “You can’t ignore me now.”

That happened to me over the weekend. It started out normal enough, like any other weekend. I hadn’t been feeling great all of last week. Was fighting off a possible cold with a stuffy nose and extra exhaustion. When Saturday rolled around, I decided to get grocery shopping out of the way and spend of the rest of the weekend relaxing and recuperating.

Everything was going great until about 6 p.m. Saturday evening. All of a sudden my muscles cramped up so tightly and so painfully I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to move. Not knowing what else to do, I drew a very hot bath with epsom salts in the hopes that the heat and salts would relax my muscles and relieve the cramping. It did, but as I soaked I was hit with the worst headache I’ve ever experienced in my life. It came on so suddenly and so forcefully I had no idea what was happening. After a few hours of suffering, my mom convinced me a trip to the hospital might not be a bad idea, just to get checked out and make sure nothing serious was happening.

At about 9:15 that night, I checked myself into the hospital and played the ER waiting game until I could be seen. After running some tests, the doctor told me I was suffering from an viral infection (probably my cold gone angry) and dehydration. Now, this was incredibly shocking to me because I always try to be on top of keeping myself hydrated. I’m regularly getting up to refill my water, and I make a conscious effort to drink fluids throughout the day. Also, I was a fitness professional, so I certainly understand the importance of proper nutrition and hydration.

That being said, it seemed the combination of running errands and then getting sick caused a reaction to not drinking enough fluids that day. Once the doctor said dehydration, the muscle aches and headache made more sense. I was hooked up to an IV with saline solution, and I slowly started to feel better as my body was re-hydrated. (The pain meds they gave me made a big difference too.) :o)

I must admit, I have a terrible, terrible needle phobia. Not sure why exactly, but getting shots has always given me panic attacks. I am very proud to report that I did not have one panic attack even though they had to draw blood and put in an IV.

This whole hospital adventure got me thinking, though. We’re more prone to getting sick and having medical issues when we’re not taking care of ourselves holistically. Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the future and not paying as much attention to the present moment. If I had been more present on Saturday, I might have recognized that I hadn’t had enough to drink throughout the day. Also, I have a tendency to try to just power through when I feel crappy, and this was a good reminder that when something doesn’t feel right in my body, or I’m experiencing pain, it’s a sign that something is wrong. It’s important to listen to what your body is telling you or, you know, you might end up in the hospital.

Needless to say, I spent all of Sunday on the couch double fisting tea and water. I’m happy to report that I’m on the mend and feeling better. I will also be paying closer attention to what my body is telling me, and I’ll be working on being more present in my day to day life.

Hope you had a wonderful, and less exciting, weekend!

National Relaxation Day and Sweet Potato Muffins

Today is National Relaxation Day! So it seems like the perfect time to talk about….well, relaxation. Relaxing is not something I’m great at.

I’ve got a Type A personality, so of course, I always want to be in control of everything. This is counterproductive when you’re trying to let everything go. I make a conscious effort to set my stress and any issues I’m facing aside so that I can chill out because relaxing really is important for both the mind and body. I can definitely tell, though, if I haven’t been relaxing enough. My headaches become more severe. My back is much more achy. My memory becomes cloudier, and I have trouble remembering where I parked the car. I’m learning to pay more attention to these signs so I can learn to live more stress free and be generally more relaxed.

Here are some of my favorite ways to relax:

1. Take a hot bath (bonus relaxation: Add Epsom salts and/or essential oils)
2. Read an interesting book
3. Go for a walk (with or without music)
4. Watch a funny TV show or movie
5. Exercise (My favorites include dance, strength training and yoga)
6. Write (Whether it’s a blog, journal, diary or just on a scrap of paper)
7. Stretch
8. Play with your pets (Volunteer at an animal shelter or visit a friend if you don’t have pets of your own)
9. Practice mindful deep breathing
10. Take up a new hobby

It’s #10 I’ve been focusing on a lot more recently. My new hobby is cooking, as I’ve mentioned before, and I’m really enjoying finding new recipes and trying them out. Thank goodness for the power of Pinterest. My “recipes to try” board is growing quite quickly, but I sometimes get in the habit of making favorite foods over and over again. Not that there’s anything wrong with revisiting old favorites. I know I like them, and I know what I’m doing when I cook them. But I also know that I can’t really grow my cooking muscles if I don’t explore new recipes. With that in mind, I took on a few new ones this weekend with great success (if I do say so myself)! I made taco hand pies for lunch this week (which we’ll get to in another blog post), and I made sweet potato muffins for snacks.

pre-baked sweet potato muffins

Recently, I’ve been on a sweet potato kick. More specifically, mashed sweet potatoes. If I had known how easy they were to make and how delicious they are homemade, I would have been making them ages ago. Alas. I know now and they’re basically all I want to eat. I had some leftover in my fridge when I stumbled upon this recipe for sweet potato muffins.

Baked sweet potato muffins

They sounded delicious, but I wanted to see if I could make them a little healthier. I researched ingredient substitutions and discovered that you can sub agave for sugar (⅔ agave to 1 cup sugar) and applesauce for vegetable oil (I did about ¾ cup applesauce for ¾ cup oil). This was the first time I had ever attempted to modify a recipe, and I have to say I’m very pleased with the results. My muffins came out delicious, moist and flavorful.

I apologize for my crappy food pictures. Unfortunately food photography is not a skill I have mastered. This muffin was delicious though.

Sweet Potato Muffins (modified from Good + Simple blog)

Ingredients
3 cups of mashed sweet potato*
2 cups flour (I used whole wheat flour)
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
⅔ cup agave syrup
¾ cup applesauce**
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup ground flaxseed meal
Pecans (optional) (I added nuts to mine)

Instructions

1. To prep the sweet potatoes (this can be done a day or so ahead if you want to break up the muffin-making process): Pierce the potatoes with a fork and place on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for approximately 45 minutes, or until the inside is soft when poked with a fork. Remove and let cool. When the potatoes are cool, peel off the skin and mash the sweet potato filling with a fork or masher until any big lumps are gone. Measure out 3 cups worth of filling. Or you can make mashed sweet potatoes ahead of time (see below).
2. To make the muffins: In a large bowl combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, combine the agave syrup, applesauce, eggs, and vanilla. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and then add the sweet potato (and pecans).
3. Pour into muffin tins/cups. Sprinkle flaxseed on top of the muffins. Bake at 325 for approximately 30 minutes. (It took about 40 minutes for mine to bake through. I tested with a toothpick to see when it came out clean).

*I used leftover mashed potatoes I made with this recipe – I subbed brown sugar and cinnamon for salt and pepper

**I didn’t measure this exactly – I used 2 individual serving cups of unsweetened applesauce

Let’s get physical

Anyone who works in an office or sits at a desk all day, almost everyday understands the struggles of getting in enough movement each day. It’s recommended that we take 10,000 steps a day. But I’ll be honest with you, there are some days where my pedometer reads a measly 2,000-steps, if that. I own the fitness tracker (a Garmin vivofit), I monitor my movement. I try to get up and take breaks at least once every hour during work in an effort to get the blood flowing and increase my step count.

As someone who used to teach fitness for a living, the transition to desk life was a strange one. I went from being paid to exercise and moving around all day long to sitting still. I have to now find time outside of work to work out, and I’m not even being paid for it?!  That is something I definitely miss, but I really do love being a writer, so it all works out.

But trying to live that #fitnesslife can be a struggle. I love working out, sweating and getting my heart pumping, but I also get bored easily and hate when exercise feels too much like work. I taught dance fitness for many years and spent a lot of my childhood and young adult life dancing. Dance fitness is always fun. It leave you good and sweaty and you get a great workout. I’m always intrigued when a new dance fitness program comes up. I also love country music. So when I heard about the new Beachbody program “Country Heat,” I was intrigued.

You guys.

This program is so. much. fun! You don’t necessarily need to love country music to get into it either, in my opinion. The steps are really easy to follow but you’re sure to be a sweaty mess by the end. All of the workouts are about 30 minutes, which is ideal. Country Heat is unlike other dance programs I’ve done. You learn 8 counts of one step, which you repeat 8 times. You learn a second 8-count step and do it 8 times. Then you put to the two together and do that 4 times. This structure repeats for the 30ish minutes. Country Heat is great for both beginners and seasoned dance fitness exercisers. I’ve been doing it for about a week now and I love it! It’s so fun to get into the moves and the music, and I increase my step count by a ton! (FYI, these are just my opinions. I’m not affiliated with Beachbody in any way, and I’m not a Beachbody coach.)

Another thing I’ve been really into lately is spending more time outdoors. I’ve never been what you’d call an “outdoorsy” person. I’ve never really loved camping, and I would rather take a nap than a hike. I’m not sure why or what sparked it, but that’s all sort of changing. Not that I have an urge to camp in the woods, but the idea of hiking and exploring nature is becoming more appealing to me. Fortunately, my mom lives near a lot of forest preserves and trails, giving us the perfect opportunity to go exploring.

Last weekend, we checked out the Hadley Nature Trail. This is a pretty relaxed trail. Essentially, you walk in a big circle for about 2.5 miles on some gravel. It was a lovely intro to nature walking for us, and we definitely sweated. It was great to get outside, get some fresh air and soak up some vitamin D. And of course we love us some mother/daughter bonding. We plan to explore more travels through the different forest preserves so stay tuned for more adventures.

National Book Lover’s Day

Today is a great day to celebrate. It’s #NationalBookLoversDay!

As a logophile, it makes sense that I am a lover of books. I’ve enjoyed reading and getting lost in a story for as long as I can remember. My reading list is always way too long, yet I add new book titles to it every chance I get. I’ve always got something to read with me in my purse, whether it’s a paper book or my Nook. My favorite book is The Time Traveler’s Wife. Books are my lifelines, especially when things in my life get messy. There’s nothing better than getting lost in a world outside my own where I can go on adventures without leaving the comfort of my home.

In honor of this festive day, I’ve collected some of my favorite quotes and thoughts about reading.

 

What is your favorite book? Do you have a favorite quote about reading?

New month. New start.

August just started, which wipes the slate clean for another 31 days. With each new month, we get another opportunity to build a new, healthy habit, break an old, bad habit, try new things and find ways to grow and learn.

I can’t believe it’s already August. This year is seemingly flying by, and it feels like I was just celebrating New Years, and then just celebrating my birthday. Now here we are, kids are getting ready to go back to school and fall is right around the corner (yay!).

I thought I’d take a moment here to talk about my plans for the month and what I want to focus on with this new beginning.

My goal all year long has been to find ways to be healthier and more active. Since I traded teaching fitness classes for a desk job as a writer, I’ve found it’s much harder to make time to move each day. And this past year has been incredibly stressful in many ways, and I’m a comfort eater. So not only am I trying to be healthier overall, but I also have some extra weight I’d lose. Turns out too much Nutella and comfort foods makes it challenging to keep fitting into your pants. Go figure. This month I plan to try new (healthy) recipes and explore new food pairings. I recently discovered a newfound love for mashed sweet potatoes, and I’m obsessed.

In terms of fitness, I’m really excited to try a new fitness program. A friend of mine is a Beachbody Coach and she turned me onto some of the programs. I’ve done CIZE and 22-minute hard corps, both of which I enjoyed. But I think this next one is going to be my favorite. It’s called Country Heat, and it’s a dance fitness program all choreographed to country music. Two of my favorite things are dancing and country music, so this is right up my alley. Really excited to get this one started. It should arrive on Friday, so stay tuned!

My (continuing) intention and focus for this month (and year) is to try and live more in the present moment and be more mindful of my thoughts. I’m cynical and a bit pessimistic by nature, so positive thinking doesn’t come naturally to me. I’m working on that, because I really do believe in the power of positive thinking. I’m striving for an attitude of gratitude, if you will. To that end, I plan to get back in the habit of writing in my gratitude journal. I try to list five things every day that I’m grateful for. I’m also working on enjoying the moments of my life. Sure there are always bills and things to worry about, but if I focus all of my attention on that, I’m miserable. Instead, I’m trying to focus on what is currently happening, enjoying each little moment, and I’m looking forward to the fun things I have planned in the near future.

What about you? What are you excited for with the onset of a new month?

Accept what is.

I recently saw a clip from Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday (I love me some self-help advice, you guys.) Spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle was giving advice on stress-free living. If you’re like me, you might laugh this off. Stress-free living? Yeah, ok man. I’m a full-blown Type-A gal, which has its pros and cons for sure. BUT, I am committed to finding ways to reduce my stress levels whenever and however possible (within reason of course). Since Eckhard Tolle is renowned for helping people live their best lives, I gave the clip a listen. You can too, here.

What he says is that “stress is wanting to be something that it isn’t,” or what you resist persist. Boy, does that make sense to me. I’m sure we’ve all heard this also – living in the past or future causes stress. Living in the moment allows you to be at peace. When you wish for something to be different, in the moment, it creates major tension between your wants and your reality.

Eckhard Tolle goes on to give this great analogy: you’re stuck in the mud. You might not want to be stuck in mud. You may be pissed as hell that you’re stuck in mud. But that doesn’t change the fact of the matter, which is you. are. stuck. in. mud.

It can be hard to let go because we (at least I do) love to be in control. But it’s important we accept the “is-ness” of every situation. “It is what it is” if you will. Once we recognize this truth can let go and move on from situations that no longer serve us. So, once you accept that you are, in fact, stuck in mud, you can figure out where to go from there.

I’ll tell you something. I hate the phrase “it is what it is.” I have an ex-boyfriend who said this constantly, and it drove me nuts. I rail against it – it is not what it is. it’s what I say it is. What I’m learning is that no, it is what it is. Not what I want it to be.

This mud metaphor really hit home for me. I’m realizing I am not great at accepting the is-ness of situations. I want to always change something, fix something, do something differently. Not that I can’t, but I refuse to first accept the reality of the situation. Instead I try to move in all these different directions, nothing happens and I end up hurting myself mentally and/or emotionally in the end. What I need to recognize is this:

Not everything can be fixed, nor should it. Not everything can be changed. I’m making a more conscious effort to first, accept my situation, whatever that may be, as it is. From there, I’ll have a better understanding of if there’s something I can work out or if it’s time to let it go and move on. That way I can get unstuck from the mud, clean myself up and move on with my life.

Mondays and cheesy pesto chicken

I’ve taken up cooking as a hobby over the past couple of years. It began in my closet-sized kitchen in my old studio apartment. The kitchen, though small and dollhouse like, was nice and filled with new appliances. I’m a very picky eater with the eating habits of a 5 year old. (My friends have been known to hide veggies in food.)

I love home-cooked meals but rarely ate them because I’ve never really had a huge interest in cooking. It all started with the purchase of my crock pot. I became obsessed with all things slow cooker. I waxed poetic to literally anyone who would listen about the benefits of crock pot cooking and how amazing it is to come home after a long day of work to delicious smelling food all ready for consumption. One of my favorite recipes is for bacon-wrapped bbq pork chops (the recipe calls for chicken but I like to do it with pork chops). Yes, they’re as delicious as they sound.

I still love my crock pot and use it often. A recent recipe I enjoy is the Mississippi roast. Talk about comfort food. About a year and a half ago I upgraded from a studio to a one bedroom. One of the biggest draws to my new apartment was the open floor plan in the living room and the big kitchen with a great peninsula/island part. Plenty of counter space to create, and I’ve been venturing into more real cooking. Like, on my stove and in my oven. One of my favorite pastimes is to peruse the recipes on Pinterest and plan meals accordingly. As a novice cook I have plenty of hits and misses and “well this doesn’t taste that great but it’s not terrible and I need to eat” meals.

One area I still struggle with is lunch. I’m getting better with meal prepping but I fall into a serious lunch block. For the past few weeks I’ve been eating tomato basil sausage and brown rice. It’s quick, easy and delicious. I’ve also eaten a lot of sandwiches. Nothing against them, but they get boring pretty quickly. Plus, [all together now!] processed meat is not great for you. I enjoy bringing home-cooked food for lunch but for some reason I also have trouble figuring out what to make. But let’s face it, Mondays are a little more bearable when you know you have a delicious meal waiting for you come lunchtime.

Recently, I’ve come across some great-sounding simple recipes that are easy to throw together on a Sunday afternoon, leaving you with lunches for at least a few days. One such recipe is this cheesy pesto chicken from Kiddielicious Kitchen.

Pesto? Yes.

Cheese? Yes.

Chicken? Yes.

I was sold. Three ingredients and then you bake it. What could be more simple? I decided to try this recipe for lunch this week, and I gotta say, it’s a winner. Not too heavy but the cheese and pesto blend together nicely with the chicken. I feel satisfied but not weighed down. I paired it with green beans seasoned with a little butter and garlic powder. I’ll definitely make this recipe again!

BAKED PESTO PARMESAN CHICKEN

PREP TIME: 10 mins
COOK TIME: 30 mins
TOTAL TIME: 40 mins

INGREDIENTS
4 chicken breast (preferably organic)
6 tbsp pesto
black pepper
(pinch of salt)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan (I used a Parmasan/Provolone mix)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 200 Celcius/390 Fahrenheit degrees.
2. Prepare the pesto. (I used jar pesto)
3. Place chicken breast in a baking tray that is lightly sprayed with cooking oil.
4. Season with black pepper and a pinch of salt if you like.
5. Top chicken breasts with pesto and grated Parmesan.
6. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes depending on the size of the chicken breasts. (I baked this for about 33 minutes)

In defense of crazy cat ladies

I have a secret to tell you…

 

…I’m a crazy cat lady.

Ok, this may not be a secret. For those who know me, there are at least 17 times a day when I might mention one or both of my cats. I have cat-related decor, including, but not limited to, cat-shaped cell phone stands and cat-decorated mugs. My friends tag me on social media when any adorable images or videos of tiny felines appear. 

Does that make me crazy? Maybe. But maybe not.

It’s become trendier lately to be a “cat lady,” but for many people the image of a woman in a bathroom surrounded by 17 cats still comes to mind when a single lady says, “Oh yeah, I’ve got cats.”

      

Here’s another secret: I like my cats (and most animals) more than most people. Now, people are just fine, but here’s the thing. Cats, and animals in general, really do love you unconditionally, and that’s hard to come by in humans. With people, there’s sometimes an underlying, I’ll love you if… or I won’t love you if… or an I can’t be in your life anymore if…..

Now sometimes we have to create boundaries, and we have to let people go out of our lives. I understand that fully and completely support that. I love me some boundaries. But we don’t really do that we animals. There’s no, I won’t love you anymore if you pee on the carpet again. And pets don’t ever think, I will stop loving my person if they keep leaving me alone all day. They just go about their lives and are just as excited to see you when you come home as they were the day before and the day before that. There are no grudges and no bad feelings.

When I was in college, it became apparent pretty quickly that the whole roommate situation wasn’t going to work out for me. I love and prefer living alone, but I’ll admit it can get lonely at times. Senior year, I rented a one-bedroom apartment all for myself, but I wasn’t going to live totally alone. Even though it was technically not allowed, I’d heard the apartment people looked the other way, so I decided to get a cat.

Over the summer, I went to the animal shelter by my house (adopt, don’t shop!) after seeing a gorgeous black cat on their website, Margarita. The only problem was I was leaving the next day for Ireland and I would be gone for two weeks. “How long can I put a hold on her for?” I asked the people at the animal shelter. “You can only put a hold on an animal for two days,” they explained. “But honestly, she will probably be here when you get back. She’s a year and a half and a black cat.”

Yes, it’s terribly sad that black cats have a much harder time because people believe all the stupid superstitions about them. It’s also harder for older cats vs tiny kittens. I get it, but it’s still a bummer. So I determined that if Margarita was, in fact, still there when I returned two weeks later we were obviously meant to be together.

And wouldn’t you know, she was still there and I promptly adopted her.

Throughout the years, Margarita has been my constant companion. I never, ever feel alone because she is always there with me, usually right next to me, sleeping. Margarita has been there to see me through all of my life’s many, many ups and downs with kitty kisses and purrs. She (and Prim) are also the reason I need to get out of bed each morning. On the days when I don’t feel like facing the music, I know Margarita (and Prim) need to be fed and cared for.

A few years ago (four to be exact) I was feeling bad about any time I spent away from Margarita because she was left alone. I also become obsessed with gray cats. (grabies – gray babies –  as I like to call them.) Again I went to the animal shelter’s website (seriously, please adopt, don’t shop!) and saw an adorable litter of kittens, including a precious long-haired graby. The litter was 5 months old and all of the kittens were named after characters in the Hunger Games. The gray one was Primrose. I took my mom to meet her and instantly fell in love. (To be honest, we fell in love with a couple of different kittens but I was still all about gray cats). I put a hold on her and came back two days later to adopt her.

My cats have two very different personalities. Margarita is more aloof and skittish. Primrose is very affectionate and kinda crazy. They’re both loving, and they both provide endless entertainment, great companionship and cat hair for days.

It’s true that on any given night, there’s a good chance I would rather hang out at home with my cats than go out.

But does all of this make me “crazy”?

Today’s society, in particular, puts a huge value on being your most authentic self, living your best life, setting boundaries and being true to yourself. Essentially, you gotta do you.

My most authentic self loves animals, especially cats. They’re great little furry friends, and I don’t think there’s anything crazy about that.