January Recap: 100 Miles and Beyond

Copper and I surpassed 100 miles walked last Saturday! In total, we probably walked closer to 105, and probably surpassed it before Saturday since my app never seems to be accurate. Either way, 100 miles in one month is probably the most I've ever walked and it felt great to accomplish that!

In regards to some of my other goals that I set for myself this year, some have been going well, others have not. I've been doing a pretty good job of turning off the TV and putting my phone away at least a half hour to an hour before bed and then making myself a cup of tea and reading a book. I finally finished reading Anna Karenina on Sunday night (actually, it was Monday morning thanks to my newfound insomnia). I have been reading that book on and off since September, so it felt really good to finally put that monster to bed.

Unfortunately, all the tea and reading and relaxing before bed hasn't seemed to help me sleep--it's just helping me get books read. Still searching for things to help me actually sleep. I've tried a white noise app which didn't help at all. I've tried calming music which helps me relax, but doesn't seem to help me fall asleep. I used ear plugs the past two nights. The first night, I slept great. Last night, not so much. I tossed and turned all night and I assume I slept some, but it was not very restful. So sleeping in our new Dallas apartment is still a work-in-progress for me (Chris seems to be able to sleep anywhere and any time after 7pm).

We've been doing okay about unplugging in general (i.e. during meals), but not great. We are cooking at home almost 5 days a week now and are making small attempts to make those meals healthier (sometimes they're really healthy, sometimes we make a frozen pizza). I feel that I'm doing a pretty good job on keeping up with family and friends and having better relationships, but there's definitely room for improvement there.

I did very little writing in January, but I've got some ideas floating around that I need to get on paper this month. I also did not submit anything in an attempt to get published. So I will try to remedy that this month as well. And as far as finding a job I love, well I have an interview tomorrow, so please send prayers, good thoughts/vibes, etc. my way!

Because I'm still unemployed, we haven't made much progress on budgeting and reducing our debt. It's hard to really add extra money to debt payments when we're living on one income and unfortunately don't have any savings. My hope is that once I have a job, we can really buckle down and focus on not only paying off our debts, but building up our savings, so that we're prepared for any future emergencies (medical, auto, etc.), or for any future unemployment (although I hope that never happens again!).

I was sick for most of last week, so I skipped yoga Wednesday-Friday. I finally went back on Saturday for a sound mediation class. Then I skipped again this past Monday since I only got a couple hours of sleep the night before. Unfortunately, that means I'm out of the yoga challenge I was attempting to complete, but I needed to take care of myself. Getting back on the mat yesterday, I was definitely stiff, but I felt so much better after class.

Overall, January was a pretty good month, in spite of the goals I made zero progress on. Luckily, I've got my Passion Planner to keep me on track!

Wish me luck on my interview tomorrow! :)

The Road to Sustainability

I've been slacking a little with this blog lately. But I've been busy, working my butt off trying to find myself a job, and not just any job but the job. The job where I get to use my writing and editing skills daily. The job where there's room for me to learn and grow and advance my career. The job with a positive working environment. I'm still looking. But I might be getting close! I've had two phone interviews for one position and I will be interviewing in-person for that position next week. I am excited about the possibility and opportunity this position could bring and hope to have good news on that front soon!

Copper and I have also been walking our butts off! Although not so much today and yesterday. I'm not sure if it's allergies or if I'm getting a cold, but I've felt a little sniffly and throat-scratchy, so I'm trying to drink more water and hot tea  and dial it back a little on the long walks. So far this month, we've walked roughly 92 miles (give or take a few)! Even with scaling back our walks a little, we will still hit 100 miles walked before the end of the month. I've noticed some tightness in my hips lately (from all the walking I presume), so I've been trying to open them and stretch them more in my yoga practice.

Copper went to the vet last week and weighs a whopping 68 pounds, and it's all muscle! Unfortunately, we found out she had two infections in both of her ears. Thankfully, just since Friday, with the medicine and cleaning solution her vet gave us, her ears seem to be clearing up, although one ear was definitely worse than the other.

My poor baby!

We've been out and about, trying new things lately. I went to the Dallas Art Museum last week with a friend from my yoga studio:

Number 3, 1949: Tiger by Jackson Pollock

I also tried sushi for the first time!!!

It was pretty good.

We've finally started cooking at home again for the majority of our meals. (We cave and eat out a couple times a week right now, but we need to reign that in if we're going to be healthier and pay off some debt!!) I'm trying to get us to eat healthier overall and rather than cutting out gluten and dairy, I'm buying whole grains and organic (or less-processed) dairy products to see how it goes. It's a little more expensive, but so far, I've been feeling okay!

Whole grain penne pasta with chicken sausage, whole roasted cauliflower, caesar salad and garlic bread. Chris is even eating more than one helping of salad!!

Penne pasta reimagined for a leftover lunch!

This was last night's dinner and it was delicious! Slow cooker creole chicken with andouille chicken sausage over brown rice. 

In addition to trying to eat healthier, one of my goals for this year (not listed here!), is to try to lead a more sustainable lifestyle. More simply, I want to start reducing some of our waste (and lower our budget!). In the past, I've made small changes, such as switching from Dixie cups in the bathroom to small Tupperware cups (I have about 4 that I rotate). I want to start making more changes like that in other areas. Currently, I use makeup remover wipes to take off my makeup at the end of the day (although, since I'm not currently working, I've been going natural--saving money on the wipes and the makeup!), but I'd like to switch to something less disposable. I've seen DIY makeup remover with Johnson & Johnson's baby shampoo (I think it's shampoo? I don't really remember), but I'm not crazy about buying that and using it on my face (and thus having another bottle to throw out).

I also brought up the topic with Chris of switching to using cloth napkins rather than paper towels. We're only a family of 2, so we don't go through a ton of paper towels, so this isn't so much a money-saving thing as it is more of an environmental thing. I want to reduce the amount of waste we're putting out into the world. Chris was pretty adamant that we keep the paper towels (mainly because it's not a huge extra cost for us), but I might get some just for me to use. 

I'm also looking into alternatives to the Swiffer (dry) cloths. I still have some, so I will use those up first, but I did try a microfiber cloth yesterday, and it seemed to trap as much hair and dust and dirt as the Swiffer cloths do (if not more!). I'm not sure what, if anything, I can use on the Swiffer Wet Jet, but I haven't even mopped our apartment yet (don't judge me!), so I'm not too concerned about that at the moment.

Are you trying to reduce your carbon footprint (or save money!)? If so, what steps have you taken to do so? Any tips for makeup remover, cloth napkins, or Swiffer cloths? Let me know!

Goals for 2016

I know I'm a little late getting to these, but here they are (in no particular order).

My primary goal is to live a healthier lifestyle overall. To focus on self-care, both mentally and physically.

• Eat healthy. Most of the time. It's okay to splurge now and then. I really want to find a good balance for myself as far as food goes. I think a lot of my IBS symptoms are more stress-related than food-related. So I think if I just continue to eat a healthy diet (including higher-quality grains and dairy) and manage my stress better, my IBS symptoms might be reduced.
• Be active. I want to continue with the [more] active lifestyle I've had since we moved to Dallas. I'm walking 20+ miles each week (which may go down a bit once I get a job). I'm doing yoga several times a week (almost every day, which again, will probably change once I get a job). I haven't started running down here yet. I want to be a little more familiar with the area before I start that. Overall, I just want to spend less time sitting inside on the couch watching TV. I want to get out and explore (and living in a new city certainly helps!).
• Read more. My goal this year--again--is to read 25 books. I only read about 13 books in 2015, so I hope that if I don't make it to 25, I at least read more than 13. Less TV/movies/Netflix-bingeing. I want to try to read at least a half hour each night before bed to help myself unwind and hopefully sleep better. 
• Unplug more often. Especially during meal times with Chris, family, or friends. But also at least a half hour before bed (no TV, no phone, no computer) to help myself unwind from the day and sleep better. 
• Be present. This goes along with unplugging--putting the phone away at meal times and giving Chris or anyone else I am with my full attention.
• Drink more water and herbal tea. Less beer, wine, and other alcohol. To go with my book before bed, I plan to drink a cup of hot tea (at least while it's cold out--might switch to infused water in the summer). With our move and the holidays, we've done a lot more drinking, and we love trying new, local beers so this will be challenging.
• Be kinder to myself and others. I am my own worst critic. I put myself down more than anyone else and punish myself far too often. It's time for me to change that. Through yoga, I'm learning to honor my body--both on and off the mat. It's a constant work in progress, but I have made some great improvements over the last year and hope to continue that. I also want to work on being kinder to those around me. To Chris, especially. But also to family, friends, and strangers. I can have a short temper (although yoga is helping me with that, too!), and I'm trying to think and breathe through my immediate emotions. I'm trying to put myself in the other person's shoes. Maybe that person cut me off because they're having a rough Monday and are late for work. Maybe the checker at the grocery store just got yelled at by another customer so they aren't feeling too friendly. I'm want to be kind to those who aren't kind to me, because they probably need it most. 
• Have better relationships. I want to make a point to keep in touch with my family and friends on a regular basis, which is especially important now that I'm living out of state and most of my family and friends live in St. Louis. I want all my family and friends to know how important they are to me and to let them know by calling and texting them--not just liking their Facebook posts. I also want to be able to let go of relationships that are no longer healthy or just aren't there at all. I had a "friend" who I regularly called and texted to try to keep in touch, see how she's doing and let her know how I'm doing. But she almost always ignores my messages. So I'm going to let that one go. Friendship is a two-way street and I'd rather put my energy into other friendships.
• Budget, reduce debt, and increase savings. This is something Chris and I will be working on together, but it definitely falls under "self-care" since having less debt = less stress (for me anyway). Chris and I both have student loans, car loans, and credit card debt, though thankfully not a ton of credit card debt. I will probably do some separate posts on our plans for reducing our debt and budgeting in case anyone wants to follow along. (If you're looking for a blog on budgeting and reducing debt, my friend Elise has a great one--her and her husband have made a serious dent in their debt and were my inspiration for wanting to tackle our own debt!)
• Write more. With the wedding, moving to Dallas, and the holidays, I haven't had a lot of time to write. I am working on a book though, and want to make some real progress with that this year. I also want to continue writing poetry. Plus, writing more will allow me to have [long-distance] workshops with one of my good friends, which helps with the better relationships goals too. Ideally, I'd like to get something published this year. So I might make a secondary goal to this one to submit to one literary magazine per month in an attempt to get published. 
• Find a job I love. I've been unemployed (again) for a little under a month. Thankfully, with Chris's job promotion, it isn't imperative that I find a job--any job--right away. Having a job will certainly make budgeting, paying off our debts, and saving easier, though. But my goal here is to take my time and find a job that I truly love. I do have one opportunity on my radar and I'm hoping to get an interview set up for that within the next week or so (I'll let you all know how it goes!). If that doesn't work out, then I will keep looking because I want to find the right job for me. I don't want to just settle on something to say that I have a job. I've had to do that in the past and it made me horribly stressed.

Those are my goals, although I'm sure I think of more to add to this later! What are your goals for 2016? 

A Look Back on 2015 and Ringing in the New Year

We ended 2015 in our Dallas apartment--Chris was asleep on the couch and Copper was asleep on the floor. Thankfully, Chris woke up at midnight to give me a kiss so I didn't have to kiss the dog! ;)

This past year certainly had its ups and downs. I got promoted to Copywriter in April and was feeling on top of the world. Then I was laid off in June. I was terribly sick (the sickest I think I've been in a long time, and on the verge of going to the ER several times), and worried about what I would do about health insurance, money, etc. Chris and I talked about just going to the courthouse (several times) to get married so we could both get on insurance through his work, but that turned out to be too expensive. I was angry that I was so close to my wedding and was unemployed. I was angry that I had to consider getting married early just to get health insurance. How romantic. I was angry that my doctor couldn't seem to figure out why I was so sick and eventually just told me to go to the ER (which I could no longer afford).

I was angry about a lot of things. And stressed about a lot of things in 2015 (unemployment and a wedding will do that). Yoga helped. I think my mom and I started going to yoga together in February. Yoga has taught me a lot in the past year. It has taught me how to breathe properly and keep breathing (which has helped my asthma). It has helped me let go of stress and anger (at least for the hour I'm on the mat) and it has helped me focus on my mental and physical health.

Thankfully, I was only unemployed for a couple weeks before I found a job as a teller. Not my dream job, but it showed me what it can be like to work in a happy work environment, which everyone deserves. After working over a year in an extremely toxic and unhappy work environment, this was a much-needed and refreshing change. I wasn't doing what I really wanted to be doing, and I wasn't making much money, but I loved everyone I worked with at the bank. For the first time in a long time, I had coworkers that I didn't mind spending time with outside of work. I enjoyed hearing about their personal lives and telling them about mine. I'm so happy I had the opportunity to work there for the short time that I did. I met some wonderful people and made some wonderful friends.

Just a few of my wonderful coworkers and the wedding gift they gave me! 

2015 was filled with lots of wedding planning and activities: showers, bachelorette party, cneterpiece-making. Planning the wedding itself was stressful and not super fun. But I got to spend that time with family and friends which made it a little less sucky. And in the end, we had a beautiful day and a beautiful wedding, and afterward we went on an incredible, week-long, stress-free honeymoon. That was probably the best week of my life so far, and for sure the best in 2015.

Well this night turned into a hot mess, but it was fun! :)

We got married! And we totally nailed recreating this Pinterest picture! ;)

Best week ever. Best views ever. Best company ever. <3

We got to relax for a while once all the thank-you cards were sent, but not for long because by December we were packing up our house to move to Dallas. We've been here for three weeks now and it's been a little crazy and stressful with the holidays. Now that the holidays are over, I'm hoping we can start getting into a normal routine (and start cooking dinner at home more nights a week than we eat out!).

We are not good at taking family selfies. 

Chris's parents came down to celebrate his birthday with us and drove my car down which we had left in St. Louis. The drive down took them a little longer because of the flooding, but they made it and we had a great time while they were here. We went out to dinner with them once they got here to a place called Village Burger Bar. Chris and I had been wanting to try it and we ended up really enjoying it. They had turkey burgers (yay for me!) and truffle fries, both of which were delicious. Aside from when I tried to squeeze a lime into my water and it squirted everywhere (including at/on Chris's parents), I'd say it was a good time.

For Chris's birthday (New Year's Eve), we attempted to get breakfast at Einstein's Bagels, but they were out of bagels! I thought it was crazy that a bagel place ran out of bagels during breakfast time. So we went and got breakfast tacos instead, which we had also been wanting to try. I didn't really have a "breakfast taco"...I had a chicken taco with no traces of anything breakfast on it (i.e. eggs, cheese, potatoes, etc.), but it was delicious.

After breakfast we came back to our apartment so Chris could open his birthday present from his parents: a Cardinals hoodie and a Cardinals quarter-zip pullover. Our next stop was bowling. We went to this cool bowling alley a few miles away called Bowlounge. It was kind of retro and they had a ton of craft beer. I tried a beer called Blood & Honey and felt like a total badass.

Bowling for Chris's birthday! He's much better than me. :(

I was doing okay during our first game and had been in first place up until the end when Chris and his dad both pulled in front of me leaving me in third place. After that, I pretty much sucked. I think Chris's dad won the first game and Chris won the second. We tried to play a third game, but our balls kept getting stuck in the ball return and although they offered to move us to a different lane, we decided to move on to our next stop: Twin Peaks.

Apparently Twin Peaks is generally just a restaurant similar to Tilted Kilt or Hooters. But the location we went to in Dallas is where it originated, and the owner likes smoking cigars, so that one location has a cigar lounge. Naturally, we went there for Chris to smoke a birthday cigar and to get some food. The food was decent and Chris enjoyed his cigar, so I'm sure we'll end up back there again soon.

We didn't "kick back", but we enjoyed it! 

A little later in the evening we went to dinner at 18th & Vine, a barbecue restaurant near our house (another that was on our list of places to try). Unfortunately, we all wanted fries with our BBQ and they were out. But it forced us to try other things--I got mashed potatoes, Chris got beans, his dad had some sort of mushrooms. We got fried okra as an appetizer and it was delicious. The service and our main courses weren't that great though (especially not for the prices). I liked my chicken well enough (and it was one of the cheapest things on the menu), but I think I was the only one who enjoyed my food.

We left dinner a little disappointed and headed home. We watched one of the bowl games on TV until we took Chris's parents back to their hotel around 10. Chris fell asleep on the couch, Copper fell asleep on the floor, and I watched all the NYE festivities on TV by myself. We went to bed shortly after midnight and even though I was exhausted from such a busy day, I barely slept. I've had quite a few sleepless nights since we got to Dallas. I'm not sure what I need to do to sleep better. I've tried ear plugs (because our bedroom window is above the parking lot so it's noisy and there are constant air planes overhead), but those were uncomfortable and didn't really work. I think I may try a sleep mask next and maybe some sort of music or white noise and see if that helps. I'm also going to try to read and have a cup of hot tea every night before bed and see if that helps as well (that's part of my new year's resolutions which I'll do a separate post on later).

On New Year's Day, we went to the Original Pancake House for breakfast. I was so excited about this because Chris and I used to go to the one in St. Louis and it was amazing. They had a large selection of gluten-free options and the food was always delicious. We were pretty shocked by how different this location was. Their menu in general was much smaller, but they only had one option for gluten free pancakes. I decided to go with regular pancakes instead, but when we got our food, they were burned and not at all fluffy and beautiful and delicious like the ones at the St. Louis location. The portions in general were much smaller than the St. Louis one as well and we had terrible service. I was so disappointed by the experience. There are other area locations, so we might try a different one just to give it one more shot, but if it's as bad as this one was, then we will only go when we're in St. Louis.

After breakfast we hit the road to drive up to Oklahoma to go to the Choctaw Casino. It was an hour and a half drive to get there, but since we couldn't continue our New Year's Day tradition of going to Fast Eddie's, we had to at least go to a casino. It was the biggest casino I've ever been to, and it actually has two casinos in it. Chris and I won $250! He was pretty bummed we didn't win enough to buy a new TV (which I don't think we need), but I'm sure we'll find some other fun ways to spend it. Going to the casino made for a pretty long day because of the drive, but I think we all had a good time. We hung out at the apartment for a while before heading back out to get a late dinner at Tacos y Mas, which is pretty much our favorite taco place.

Chris's parents flew back to St. Louis this morning. It was so nice to have them here for Chris's birthday (and even nicer of them to drive my car down for us) and we're already talking about future trips :)

I hope you all had a fun and safe New Year's. Thank you to everyone who helped me survive 2015, but especially Chris. He has hugged me while I cried about money and insurance, took care of me when I was sick, and managed to make me smile and laugh through my tears. I don't know what I'd do without him. Here's to another wonderful year!

<3 <3 <3

Family picture courtesy of Chris's mom! 

Christmas in Dallas

Good morning! I hope you all had a Merry Christmas! Our Christmas was nice, although a few things did not go according to plan.

Except cookies...cookies always go according to plan!

Our original Christmas Eve plans were to order Chinese food and watch Christmas movies all night. Unfortunately, there were only two Chinese restaurants nearby that were open. One of which we had already tried and didn't like--the crab rangoon were tiny...who does that?! The other one had soy in the only Chinese dish I like to order (sesame chicken). So that one was out. We decided to be flexible--we could have Mexican instead. There were plenty of semi-fast-food Mexican places around. And they all happened to be closed by the time we drove around looking for dinner. We parked and walked down the street to a Mexican restaurant we had been wanting to try and they were open.

Copper waiting for Santa Paws!

I had never planned on having dinner in a restaurant on Christmas Eve (pretty sure I was wearing sweat pants). But that's where we ended up. So I ordered a margarita and Chris ordered a Corona-rita, which the waiter proceeded to drop and spill all over our table and the floor. We moved tables, Chris got another Corona-rita and we snacked on chips and salsa, which were really good. I was amazed by how many large groups of people/families were there for dinner. Up until now, I've never eaten out on Christmas Eve--we always have dinner and do gifts with my dad's family.

Margarita and chips and salsa for Christmas Eve dinner

All in all, the food was just average. It wasn't anything spectacular, and they brought me a beef tamale instead of chicken, so I had to send it back. In spite of all that, I made sure that we tipped our waiter well because it was Christmas and I felt extremely bad about being in a restaurant on Christmas Eve (and the kid was clearly having a rough night).

We went home and I was no longer in the mood to watch Christmas movies, so we watched the last three episodes of the first season of How to Get Away With Murder on Netflix. That show is incredible. We also drank a six-pack of Schlafly's Christmas Ale and I learned that I get drunk/hungover pretty quick these days on a margarita and three beers. Oops.

It's just not Christmas without Schlafly.

Chris also gave me my gift on Christmas Eve (he already had his from when we went shopping--Christmas gets pretty boring as an adult). He got me a yoga membership! I was so excited about it that I stayed up practically all night looking at their website and the classes they offer (I also had a headache and couldn't sleep...thanks beer). The membership is a little pricier than what I'm used to paying.

When I was doing yoga at the Civic Center in Florissant, it worked out to be $3-4 per class which is cheap. Another studio in Ferguson/Florissant charged about $10 per class. Chris did the math for the membership for this studio (Dallas Yoga Center) and it works out to be about $11 per class if I go three times a week. It's definitely more than what I'm used to paying, but not as expensive as other studios I had seen in the area. He also drove up there from the apartment to see exactly how far of a walk it would be for me (I'm only car-less for a few more days, but I like being able to walk when I can).  I went to my first class yesterday and it was fantastic. It was a Vinyasa flow class and it was a great workout! I'm planning on going to another class today as long as it's not raining too hard!

On Christmas morning we woke up and walked down the street to get some Starbucks and then took the dog for a walk. When we got back we didn't have much to do. We sat around watching Back to the Future on tv for a while. Eventually we got motivated and got some more boxes unpacked and got some more pictures hung up. (Almost ready to post pictures!) Later that day we went over to my cousin's house for dinner. It was so nice to have a place to go for Christmas dinner (because we obviously weren't gonna be able to have Chinese). The food was delicious and we had a great time spending the evening with them and their friends. We came home that night and took Copper for a walk. It was still above 70 degrees and I was wearing sandals! The weather was absolutely beautiful!

As for exercise, in addition to the yoga class I took on Saturday, I walked roughly 30 miles last week. That's about 9 miles more than what I did the week before. I've really been enjoying walking just about everywhere. Hopefully I don't get too lazy once I have my car back.

Chris's parents are driving my car down from St. Louis tomorrow and they'll be down here with us for Chris's birthday (NYE) and New Year's Day. I'm looking forward to seeing them, but I've got a lot of cleaning up to do before they get here!

Tonight we're going to see the Blues play the Stars (Blues won last night in a 9-round shootout!).

I wanted to take a family picture for Christmas...this was the best we could do.  

Taco Tuesday

We've been in Dallas for a little over a week now. I think Dallas and I are getting along pretty well. Between walking the dog 2 to 3 times a day and walking to restaurants for dinners and occasionally up to the grocery store to pick up a few things, I walked 21 miles last week!

I am pretty proud of that, and I've already walked 7 miles so far this week, although I think that number is a little low. I use the RunKeeper app, and it tracks any walks over 15 minutes without me having to open the app to do an "official workout". Up until yesterday, it was working great. Yesterday, however, it tracked my afternoon walk with Copper as only lasting 20 minutes and 0.82 miles. In reality we walked roughly 2 miles. The app isn't perfect, but it gets the job done. I may try doing our walks as official workouts so that the data is more accurate. We'll see.

It's probably no surprise that we've been down here just a week and I've already injured myself. Twice yesterday. First, I put a bookcase together and managed to cut my leg on one of the shelves. Not serious, but it hurt! Then, last night after dinner, Chris and I took Copper for a short walk because she hadn't been on a walk since the early afternoon. We walked a little over a half mile, just around the block really. As we were getting ready to cross the street back to our apartment, I stepped off the curb and must have landed on an uneven part of the street and twisted my ankle. The immediate pain was pretty bad and eventually I was able to get up and limp across the street and up the stairs. I propped my ankle up the rest of the evening while we watched Netflix. This morning it seems to be doing fine, so we'll see how our walks today go.

Our apartment is finally starting to feel more like home. We only have a few boxes left lying around and that's mostly because we've run out of space to put things. We've got pictures hanging on the walls and my books on shelves. I'm hoping by this weekend we won't have any more boxes cluttering the living room and I can finally take some pictures.

Copper and I are getting into a routine and are getting acquainted with our new city. We've walked through some really nice areas and neighborhoods and some that made me glad we were walking in the middle of the day. Sometimes I plan our route in advance and sometimes I just wing it. We haven't gotten lost yet, but I have checked GPS once or twice just to make sure we were headed in the right direction.

Chris will be working Christmas Eve and we're planning on ordering Chinese for dinner and eating some of the cookies I plan to bake (hoping to start on those today). Since I don't have a car here right now, we did our Christmas shopping together on Sunday in what was probably the biggest and most overwhelming mall I've ever been in. Chris basically picked out his gifts, so unfortunately he's not getting any surprises (and therefore I'm not wrapping them!). The weather this week will be beautiful, so Copper will get a couple Christmas Day walks before we head over to my cousin's house for Christmas dinner. He was so nice and helped us unload the U-Haul (because there was no way I was going to be able to help Chris carry a couch up a flight of stairs!) and he invited us to have Christmas dinner with him and his family.

It will certainly be weird not seeing our families on Christmas Eve/Day, but I think it's a little romantic to spend our first Christmas Eve as a married couple on our own. And I'm grateful that we won't be spending Christmas Day completely alone.

I'll be spending the rest of my day walking the dog and getting a few groceries and hopefully starting to bake this afternoon while I anxiously wait for Chris to get home so we can head down the street for dinner because it's Taco Tuesday at Tacos y Mas! We went there for dinner one night last week and they had amazing street tacos, so we decided we would go back tonight for Taco Tuesday. I'm loving the food down here so far, and loving that we have so many places to go within walking distance!

Hopefully next time I post I'll have pictures of the apartment to share. It's the first day of winter and the high today in Dallas will be 72, so I'm gonna get out there and enjoy it!

Whole30 Challenge: Half-Way There!

Yesterday was day 15 of my Whole30 Challenge. I was feeling pretty good about it all until around 10 or 11am. Then I got a terrible headache that lasted all day and most of the night. I have no idea what set it off (I don't think it was anything I ate). But I was pretty much miserable all day. Other than that though, I think things have been going pretty well.

Chris and I did make "dessert" the other night which consisted of a banana and one tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder mixed up in the food processor then chilled. It was delicious. Technically on the Whole30 you're not supposed to have "dessert" but I'm PMS-ing and wanted chocolate (really the first very strong craving that I've had so far). 

Again, I haven't noticed any drastic changes, but I'm optimistic (maybe that's the drastic change!). I have noticed that I'm starting to sleep better and I seem to have more energy in the mornings and throughout the day. Still not quite enough when combined with cooking at night but I think I will get there eventually. 

I haven't noticed a significant change in my asthma or allergies. I'm still taking my allergy medicine almost daily. That's kind of disappointing, but I'm still holding out hope that it will get better toward the end. 

Aside from all that, I really do feel pretty good overall. I've enjoyed almost all the foods/meals I've been eating (some weren't great, but could probably be improved with some more seasoning). If this continues to go well (or if I feel like the extra time might help improve my allergies and asthma) I might stretch it out to the end of Lent. Maybe even beyond that. 

I know I definitely don't want to go back to eating all the fast food and junk I was eating before. And I do want to experiment with certain foods when this is over to find out what I'm truly sensitive to so I know what I should avoid on a daily basis and what might be ok for me to have daily or just occasionally. (I'm really hoping I can have cheese and Greek yogurt again!)

We made beef stew the other night with carrots and sweet potatoes. I've never been a big fan of stew, but this one was pretty good!

I am starting to get slightly bored with what we've been eating lately, even though we've only repeated a couple meals so far. I'm getting extremely bored with my standard breakfast of a hard-boiled egg and a banana. I found a recipe for an egg, sausage and sweet potato casserole that sounds amazing, so I think I'll try making that soon so I can have the leftovers for breakfast. 

Chris will be out of town most of next week for work (lucky duck gets to go to California). And while I'm slightly upset that he gets to go enjoy nice weather and I'm stuck here taking care of the pets and whatnot (and of course, I'll miss him), I'm trying to look on the bright side of things: I get to make whatever I want and buy whatever groceries I want because he won't be here! :p I'll probably be eating a lot of variations on eggs...those are the easiest things for me to make when it's just me. 

In other news, Chris and I went to our first Blues game together Monday night for St. Patrick's Day! 

The first two periods were pretty slow, but the third period was awesome. It turned out to be a really great game and we had a good time! :)

It's almost the weekend! Who's excited?! My sister is celebrating her birthday this weekend--complete with lots of food and alcohol that I can't have! It should be fun though. 

Have a great one! 

Whole30 Challenge: Week 1 Complete

Week 1 is in the books!

It has not been quite as difficult as I expected. I don't feel deprived or starved. Everything we have eaten has been surprisingly delicious (even the stuff we thought we wouldn't like!). I eat until I'm full. And although I always knew that I got "hungry"/ate when I was bored, I now understand that it's really just boredom and I'm not truly hungry.

I think the biggest obstacle of this challenge (for me anyway) is just getting used to cooking almost every single night. We generally planned our meals in advance before starting this challenge, so it wasn't a problem to do that again. Adjusting to cooking every single night has been tough though. I don't enjoy cooking (although I am quite proud of the things I've made recently) and having a tiny kitchen with zero counter space doesn't really help that.

I haven't noticed any significant changes yet. I have gotten myself down to taking my allergy medicine about once every other day instead of every day. Unfortunately, I feel like I still need my inhaler quite a bit. I think my asthma and allergies (at least the past few days) is probably more caused by the weather changes than anything I'm eating though. On the day it got up to almost 80, Chris was off work, so he moved some furniture around and painted our bedroom (sorry, no pics yet). I think the combination of having the windows open, the ceiling fan on, and all the dust that got stirred up is what's really been causing me problems.

I do think I'm sleeping a little better. I've only had one night where I didn't get much sleep. Other than that, I've been getting close to 8 hours and sleeping almost the whole night. I have been having some crazy dreams lately though, so I'm not sure what that's about.

I haven't been working out, which sucks. But, for the past week or so, I haven't really had the energy or time for it. I'm planning on getting at least two or three meals made on Sunday so that I've got two or three days that I can go for a run or work out after work rather than coming straight home and starting to cook almost immediately. My legs have been killing me lately and I think it's just from sitting so much. I need to get active again.

So far, I'm enjoying the Whole30 challenge. Like I said, I don't feel starved or deprived. Sure, I occasionally wish I could have regular food, but the meals I've been eating for the past week have been pretty delicious. Chris and my family have been very accommodating. We had dinner with my parents on Sunday night and they altered a few things so that I'd have something to eat. And it was delicious! We had ribs, roasted broccoli and asparagus, and spicy sweet potatoes (which everyone liked, but thought were maybe a little too spicy).

A couple nights this week as a "treat" I made myself and Chris some frozen banana "ice cream." All it is is frozen bananas chopped up and tossed in the food processor (Chris put some chocolate syrup on his). No, it doesn't taste exactly like ice cream. But it is pretty darn good.

The other night we had Zucchini Soup. We were both pretty skeptical about it, but it turned out to be delicious! You can find the recipe here: http://www.theclothesmakethegirl.com/2012/11/05/silky-gingered-zucchini-soup/

Sorry my posts lately have been kind of sporadic. Like I said, it's been hard trying to adjust to cooking every night on top of work and my part time job. Hopefully with enough meal prep this Sunday, I'll have a little more time next week!

Not Feeling Much Like Myself

My mom has been bugging me for a new post :p

Despite my best intentions, I have not gone for a run, I haven't even worked out at home, and I'm still eating a lot of junk.

A big part of the problem is the weather. It's just too cold to get out there and do anything. I have running clothes for the winter, but nothing warm enough for how cold it's been the past several weeks. And the few days where it's been decently warm I just haven't had the time or energy to go.

Another problem is my unemployment. I'd love to have a gym membership (which would give me a place to workout when the weather is crappy), but until I have a job, we can't afford it. And being unemployed gets depressing. Really depressing. I'm pretty much stuck at home all day every day, which I really hate. It's boring and my pets are driving me nuts. I try to spend as much of my day searching and applying for jobs and writing, but some days I don't have the drive or the energy. Other days there just aren't any jobs worth applying for and I don't have an upcoming deadline (although that has changed now that I'm doing weekly stories).

Looking for jobs and stressing about not having a job is exhausting. On top of that, since I'm the one at home, I'm doing most of the laundry, dishes, cleaning, and cooking. Not fun.

I just haven't felt like myself in a really long time. It's been almost a month since my job and my four-hour commute ended but I'm still exhausted. And yet there are nights where I just can't sleep. And although I hate being stuck at home all day every day, I also hate going out. I love my family, but it gets exhausting for me to be around so many people after just a couple hours. Everyone is talking at once and loudly trying to talk over one another and it just makes me tired.

I've been really irritable and moody lately, usually for no real reason. I'm just exhausted by everything lately and I'd really like to change that, but I don't know how. You'd think that while I'm not working I'd be getting a lot of rest and I've got tons of time to work out and make healthy meals but none of that is happening. I'm too tired to work out and cook, but I'm not getting much rest because I'm working part-time and looking for jobs as much as possible and stressing about not having a job.

I'm trying to stay positive. I had an interview with a staffing company recently and will hopefully have an interview with a different company in the next week or so (I passed their editing test so they just have to schedule my interview). And I'm hoping that once I do have a full-time job again--one that doesn't include a four-hour commute--I'll be a lot less stressed and maybe things will get back to normal...whatever that is.

On the plus-side, I have been making time to read more which has been really nice. I finally finished The Hangman's Daughter which was really good, but long. Or maybe it just seemed really long because it took me months to finish it.

  I also read Girl, Interrupted. I had seen the movie before and really liked it. The book was excellent.



I'm now reading Slaughterhouse Five. And I'm on the waiting list for several books from the library.



I've also decided I really want to learn to crochet or knit. Problem with that is I'd have to buy the stuff to do it. So if any of you would like to donate some crocheting or knitting supplies so I have stuff to do when I'm not applying for jobs and writing, I'd really, really appreciate it! Oh and I have no idea how to crochet or knit, so if anyone wants to teach me, that'd be great too :)

And finally: I let my sister cut my hair!

And I've got a new cover story in the North County Community News about the Myers house in Florissant. You can read it here: http://mycnews.com

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

Or not.

I've been my usual Grinch-y self pretty much all season and for various reasons. The biggest reasons are the fact that in a very short time I will be unemployed and I'm constantly worrying about how we're going to pay our bills (we're already struggling and I'm not unemployed yet!). Other reasons include the nasty cold weather, the assholes on the road--none of those people are in the "Christmas/holiday/whatever spirit"!--my long commute in general, all the things I will miss about my current job and friends in Cape, etc., etc.

On top of all that, there's the Christmas shopping, which I still haven't started, ya know, because we're poor and whatnot. It combines three of my least favorite things: Christmas, shopping, and spending money. Ugh.

And people kept asking me what I wanted for Christmas and honestly I really didn't know what to tell them most of the time. I feel bad asking for things when I'm buying gifts for very few people this year, and the gifts I do buy will be pretty small. Plus most of the things I want/need, people can't buy for me. Things like getting a job, being able to pay bills (I guess cash works for that stuff, but most people don't want to hear that the Xmas cash they gave you paid your electric bill or whatever).

I considered not buying gifts at all. But I would feel bad getting gifts from people and not giving them something in return. Even if that something was cheap and sucks and they'll never use it. It's the thought that counts, right?

I really think that's the main reason I get all Scrooge-y and Grinch-y this time of year though. And it's not the whole giving/receiving gifts thing necessarily. It's mainly the commercialization of it all. The shopping and putting yourself further into debt for all these material things. It kind of bums me out. The fact that there are stores staying open 24/7 from now until Christmas Eve for shoppers who waited until the last minute and apparently can't go shop during normal hours sickens me. It's stupid and unnecessary and an awful way to spend the week/weekend before Christmas. And some people will end up working on the holiday too.

I think everyone has just forgotten what all these holidays are really supposed to be about. It's not about gifts or spending money or any of that. It's supposed to be about family and friends. Spending time with the people around you. And giving to those who have less than you and need more than you. And it doesn't matter what holiday you're celebrating--Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, etc. There are people who don't have roofs to hang lights on, or living rooms to put a tree, or the money to buy a turkey for dinner, or clothes for their children, etc. We all know these things. We know there are people out there who are struggling more than us. Yet we go to the malls and buy the latest and greatest and most expensive electronics, games, clothes, whatever. All these material things have taken over our lives.

If you told your family you weren't buying anyone gifts but instead you were going to donate your time/money to help someone who really needs it, they'd probably look at you like you were crazy, be a little (or a lot) mad because that's one less present they're getting--but maybe they would think it's a great idea and join you.

Maybe it's a little late to do that this year (well it's never too late to donate) if you've already bought gifts and people have already bought gifts for you. But it might be interesting to give it a try next year. Instead of asking people for the stuff you want or think you really "need" see if they'd be willing to donate to a charity instead. Or volunteer at a food pantry or homeless shelter. Then, when the holiday itself gets here and you go to spend time with your family, you actually get to spend time with them rather than focusing on what they got you.

And no, I'm not suggesting this just because I'm cheap and I hate shopping. I think it would be interesting to try though. Instead of figuring out the perfect gift to get someone, you could instead ask what charities they are most passionate about, and donate to those or find ways to volunteer. You'll probably learn a lot more about that person, maybe become closer with them, and create new traditions by volunteering with them or something like that. The holidays should be about family and friends and the time you spend with them making memories and old and new traditions.

Obviously, I don't have much spare cash to donate right now, but pretty soon, I'm going to have a lot of time on my hands, so I plan to start looking for more volunteer opportunities.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Is this something you think your family and friends would go for?

Happy Holidays everyone! Enjoy the time off and be safe!

Thoughts on Thanksgiving

I've never been a huge fan of Thanksgiving (or Christmas for that matter, but we won't get into that today). I don't really like turkey or most of the other traditional side dishes. I hate having a million different places to go. It's just never been my thing.

My family doesn't have a lot of Thanksgiving "traditions" either. We don't go out in the yard to throw around a football (although I kinda wish we did). We don't all sit around together and watch the parade.

What we usually do is go to church the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. I always love going to that one. It alternates between our Catholic church, a Methodist church, and a Lutheran church. And they kind of mix the three together and all the pastors from each of the churches get involved. I really enjoy it.

Like I said, on Thanksgiving day, we don't really have any thing that we do every year. It varies where we go and who we see. I do have a favorite Thanksgiving though. It was two years ago I think. My mom and dad decided instead of going to a bunch of different places and seeing a ton of different people, we would stay at home and have our own Thanksgiving dinner, just the four of us. We got to decide exactly what we wanted to do and eat (which included turkey, stuffing, mac 'n cheese, cranberry relish, broccoli, among other things). The food was delicious and it was just a great day that we got to spend together just the four of us, which rarely happens on holidays.

We have rarely gone shopping on Black Friday. I remember two times that I ever went. Once was with my mom to buy me a new jewelry box that was on sale somewhere. The second time was with one of my cousins to buy ourselves new laptops. That was it. Never again. I hated every second of it. And I don't enjoy shopping to begin with, so going out on the busiest day of the year isn't really my cup of tea.

One thing that almost always happens on Friday is that my mom's Christmas tree goes up. She plays Christmas music while my sister and I help her decorate. It's not something I've always enjoyed doing, mainly because I dislike decorating trees and Christmas music and whatnot.

While I've never been a huge fan of Thanksgiving, I do think it's important that we take the time to be with friends and family. We should be thankful for what we have--not out shopping for things we want to have.

So this Thanksgiving, I plan to spend time with my family and friends and be thankful for them. And I'm going to [hopefully] spend some time resting and being thankful that I will have three days off to do so. I will be avoiding the malls and other stores. I will stay home (when I'm not out doing things with family) and drink tea or coffee and relax and watch movies, and maybe do those things I've been missing lately.

What do you normally do on Thanksgiving? Any special traditions?