10 Favorite Office Snacks

If I was a responsible person I would have pictures for this post. Everyone loves food pictures so it's practically a rule.  Well life is a little past crazy at the moment and I am breaking the rule. Sorry :(
Here is a picture of my desk situation tonight instead. It counts for something right?

Anyways...if you can't tell by the coco cup, I am constantly snacking/drinking (like fluids not alcohol...sometimes I wish though) 

Work snacks are an essential part of my day and usually end up replacing a meal or two. That said, here are 10 of my favorite things to pack!

1) Carrot sticks. Bonus points if there is hummus involved.

2) Yogurt. The Greek variety is my favorite, but if there is a good sale on the regular stuff I will eat that too.

3) Bagels. I keep a jar of peanut butter in my office for these.

4) Oatmeal. We have a hot water dispenser so I can do one of the instant packets in no time. 

5) Crackers. I like Wheat Thins and Triscuits a lot.

6) Cheese sticks. Just delicious. End of story.

7) Bars. I go through Clif bar and Lara bar phases.

8) Popcorn. Microwave popcorn is my favorite food for almost any occasion.

9) Candy. Ok this is not a healthy snack, but sometimes you just really need chocolate.

10) Fruit snacks. Again, not really healthy but 100% my kryptonite.

That said, I'm running away from my desk to go home and eat popcorn, watch a movie, maybe have a beer! 

Goodnight! 

What is healthy living?

You see the words tossed around all the time, and I supposed everyone has their own idea of what it means.  But what is this "healthy living" thing we all think we are reaching for?
I personally have battled a lot with this over the years.  I firmly believed that healthy living was being as skinny as possible...regardless of the measures taken to get there and how unhealthy they might actually be.  Fat was evil and the most unhealthy thing.  Anything to avoid being fat must be good right?

It was actually running that saved me from myself the first time, and yoga that saved me again.  At some point I came to the realization that part of health must actually be the ability of your body to do the things you were asking it to.  When I went to run and couldn't do what I wanted because my body was so devoid of any nutrition, I realized things needed to change.  I gained weight but I became so much more capable.  I grew happier too.  I suppose the thing we most frequently forget about a healthy lifestyle is that it needs to encompass so much more than just physical fitness.  It is getting enough sleep, it is properly nourishing yourself, it is being able to do what makes you happy.  Unless your weight is the source of your unhappiness, your weight does not matter if you are miserable.  Finding the things that make you happy and actively making time for your mental well-being is so incredibly important.  Sure it feels good to know you look good, but there are so many more facets.  Being skinny isn't so good when you can't remember what it feels like to really smile.
 
I love yoga and running, but you don't have to be able to run a marathon then hold bakasana for half an hour to be healthy.  In fact, if you can do these things but it brings you no joy, you might be worse off.

Some people eat all organic food, I settle for eating as few processed foods as I can.
Some days I want to run until I can't anymore and just lat on the ground sweating and smiling when I am done.  Sometimes I would rather practice handstands than go to sleep.  Sometimes I would rather stay in bed snuggling with my dog in the morning.  None of these thing are wrong.
It is so easy to fall into the trap of comparing yourself to everyone around you (physically and virtually). It is easy to belittle what you do when you see that others are doing better/more.  It is so easy to believe that you will be healthier when you can do what they do.  When we do this we so often do it at the cost of our happiness.

While each person may have their own, unique definition of healthy living, perhaps it is nothing more or less than waking up feeling content and well then going to bed feeling the same way. 

Sorry for the rant, it's just been on my mind 

Wedding Planning Wednesday 2.0

So I have a confession on this planning thing, I am so backwards already it's rather comical.  We have no venue, no colors, and (barely) have a halfway solid attempt at a guest list.  But I have a dress!

Every planner I have read says that this is the wrong way to do things and that the dress should be purchased much later in the process. But really, I never listen.

It all started because the designer I was totally in love with was having a trunk show just up the road (ok, two hours away) and they had the one dress that I was OMG so convinced was the one.  So my ever so patient best friend went with me to go dress perusing.  I got to try on the dress and I didn't hate it, but wasn't convinced I loved it.  The perk of having a lot of time left to plan was that I knew I didn't have to make up my mind right that moment.  Thank goodness for not pushy sales people. 

I went home for Christmas and knew it would probably be my only opportunity to try on dresses with my mom and gramma which was a big, important thing to me.  So we went to this teeny tiny shop in my hometown and had a blast!  Seriously, if you are in Central WA, check out Unforgettable in Yakima.  They rocked and had a crazy huge selection. I didn't think my mom would be that into it, but she was having a blast pulling out dresses faster than I could try them on.  Of course there was one that she pulled out that stayed on the end of the rack for quite some time because it just didn't match any pictures I had in my head of what my dress was going to look like.  I finally tried it on, admittedly mostly to humor her.  And it was perfect.  It was that amazing moment of know that I found the perfect dress.  And if I can just keep bragging about this perfect moment, it was a sample sale dress and it fits perfectly.  I might need to get it hemmed, but that and a bustle are the only alterations it needs! I was so beyond thrilled.

No I didn't cry and mom didn't cry, but it was as close as either of us were ever going to get to happy crying over a dress.

Of course I am not sharing a dress picture, but here I am with the bag it is living in!


To get to the deeper bit behind this post...because if I am going to get all gushy about a bunch of white fabric I want to share the life lesson too.  I went into this process terrified because it meant all eyes on me and being open to people criticizing the way things looked on me.  It also meant seeing all the bits of myself that I didn't like and having others see them too.  I tried on so many dresses where I was totally hung up on the illusion of a pooch or the fabric bulging and making me look heavier than I am.  As a fitness minded person I know I am too conscious of my body and I know I can be too hard on the way I look.  Running, and being so grateful for what my body is able to do is really what got me through the process.

So there you have it, the deeper meaning behind wedding dress shopping! Tomorrow I promise to get back to the fitness stuff :)

10 Songs For Tuesday!

This is going to be the week I get back into the swing of things.  I say that every week, but that means I will eventually be right. I hope.
Today did not get off to a great start if I was looking for a good set up for an easy day.  Instead of waking up to the smell of coffee, I woke up to my dog growling at the coffee pot which was making sounds that I have only heard previously in my nightmares.  Really: it was like my cat getting sick mixed with a garbage disposal.  I presumed the worst, but luckily I found that I had simply forgotten to put the top down so the heated water wasn't making its way to the coffee.  Hallelujah. Day saved.
Luckily last night was hot yoga so I was mentally prepared for a pretty hectic and not fun day.
As a treat to myself for surviving this Tuesday (ugh, is it really not Friday yet?) I started working on a new playlist for my spring workouts.  I use Spotify at work, so it is nice to just add to the playlist throughout the day.  It feels like a little reward every time I stop working to move a song.  That sounds a little sad lol.

I am very music motivated, so when I am putting a playlist together I (obviously) like to use songs that I really look forward to hearing.  One perk of Spotify is that I can change out my songs all the time with no problem.  The downside is that I am totally lazy.  So, I like to use songs that aren't on the radio so I won't get tired of hearing them all the time!  I also only put them on my running/workout playlist so I can convince myself that I have to go be active to hear my songs.

That said, here are ten songs I am currently loving!

1) Reflections by MisterWives
2) Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene by Hozier (Take Me To Church breaks all the rules but still makes the list by the way!)
3) Scream My Name by Tove Lo
4) The Hanging Tree by Jennifer Lawrence (but not the electro remix version. the movie version. because I hate the version they play on the radio but the movie one is haunting and amazing)
5)Red Hands by Walk Off the Earth
6) Riptide by Vance Joy
7) All My Love by Major Lazer, Arianna Grande and some others
8) Easy by Son Lux and Lorde
9) Hold Back the River by James Bay
10) Devil's Spoke by Laura Marling (an older one but I never get tired of it.)


If you didn't notice, a lot of these are from the Mockingjay part 1 CD.  I apologize for nothing.  I am shamelessly obsessed.

If you have song suggestions please share!

Happy Tuesday :)

Wedding Planning Wednesday!

I pinkie promise this is not going to turn into a wedding blog.  While I used to think it would be fun to research and write that kind of thing, actually planning a wedding makes my head hurt.  Writing things out does help me wrap my mind around them though, so once a week I am going to interrupt my regular ramblings to ramble about big dresses and djs.  Or cake…because I really like cake!

Right now we are planning to get hitched on the 12^th of March so I will only subject the general population to these posts for a little over a year.  Sorry.

I am considering wearing my running shoes with my dress though, so that counts as a running tie-in right?

For the real kicker, I am fairly certain I want to try for the Dopey Challenge next year.  Of course this would mean a whole lot of training and hours spent running while trying to plan a wedding for a couple months later.  It’s either the best or worst plan ever.  On one hand, running is a great stress reliever for me and I can already guess it will be a good way to get my mind off of planning for a while.  It also pretty much guarantees I will stay in shape J On the other hand, it will put a lot of pressure on me time-wise.  So there’s that.  It’s an ongoing decision making process with a lot of factors, but I am leaning towards doing it because, wait for it, I’m a little Dopey.  I know, I’m not funny.

In other news, if you are a runner and not participating in #BibChat on Twitter on Tuesday nights you are missing out in a big way.  Last night we started planning a #bibchatbachelorette virtual run/party.  Basically the greatest people ever so check it out. (No I am not sponsored by BibRave, just really love it!)

Tomorrow I am back to talking about running things and fitness things. See you then J

Happy 2015!

Welcome to the new year! I actually made it to midnight this year and now we are driving back to NC from Alabama. Woo road trips!
Since it's a new year I suppose I should set some new goals for the year! (P.s.I'm writing this on my phone, so apologies if this isn't the most eloquent this I ever write!)

1) I will work on this blog more consistently. No more planning out posts then deciding to go to bed at 7:30 instead.

2) I will run 1000 miles in 2015.

3) I will devote more time to yoga, at least 3 times per week.

4) I will read 50+ books in 2015.

I think that covers it well...
I have a few more things dancing around in my head, but they are a little harder to put in words and to track.
I'll be checking in with progress updates at the end of each month, so maybe this is the year I succeed (and actually remember my resolutions a year from now haha)
Happy New Years again, hope it's off to a great start :)