Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Sunday, September 4, 2011
A change is comin'!
Hello, lovely readers! Those of you that know me have probably noticed a fairly significant change in the blog recently--It went from a place I would occasionally post recipes with very little effort, and as I've read other healthy living blogs and become passionate about sharing more of my journey with others, I have changed from my "Skinnified recipes" to posting more about life in general and how I choose to live it.
So lately I have been really hot and cold on the blog name--I think it's cute and catchy and still consider many of my recipes to be "skinnified", but I feel like the name can give the wrong impression. I'm not skinny. I don't want to be skinny. I am healthy and I of course I have goals in terms of my body that I haven't achieved yet, but skinny isn't one of them.
Soooo....I'm changing the name AND moving to my own domain! Holla!
The blog will stay focused on healthy living (mind, body, spirit), my life, and of course Winston and Clementine! I hope you all will continue to read and over at.....
!!! www.ArisMenu.com !!!
It's not 100% set up yet, but should be by tomorrow so excuse the dust in the move--I will be back ASAP! :O)
So lately I have been really hot and cold on the blog name--I think it's cute and catchy and still consider many of my recipes to be "skinnified", but I feel like the name can give the wrong impression. I'm not skinny. I don't want to be skinny. I am healthy and I of course I have goals in terms of my body that I haven't achieved yet, but skinny isn't one of them.
Soooo....I'm changing the name AND moving to my own domain! Holla!
The blog will stay focused on healthy living (mind, body, spirit), my life, and of course Winston and Clementine! I hope you all will continue to read and over at.....
!!! www.ArisMenu.com !!!
It's not 100% set up yet, but should be by tomorrow so excuse the dust in the move--I will be back ASAP! :O)
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Winnie's first year!
I am just a teensy bit late on a post I've been wanting to write, but better late than never! This is a very special time in our family--call me sentimental, call me plain ridiculous--but we are celebrating a year with our first child--Winston (aka Winnie aka WinnieBear aka Winstibear aka Winstontaneous aka The Winstigator. Yes I am nick name obsessed--just wait til I write about Clementine when we've had her for a year!)
Just a couple of weeks after moving in to our house last August, Steve made me a deal--when all the boxes were unpacked, we could get a puppy. I'd been whining about wanting one of my very own for the last 6 years and it was one of the things I was most excited for when we bought our house--my own puppy! Well then Steve through his back out in the move and if you know me, you know I suck at things like unpacking, being organized and motivating myself for things I don't want to do, but the idea of a puppy on the other end helped put my booty in gear and within a few short weeks, I had everything ready to go!
We looked at a few other dogs before meeting Winnie. I kept telling Steve the others weren't right and I was waiting for some feeling I couldn't explain. He was starting to doubt my illogical approach to puppy selection until we showed up at the humane society, he caught a glimpse of li'l Win and said "I think this is the one!' We took him out to the trial area and within moments he licked my face and I felt that thing--he was SO the one!
I may or may not have started crying when I came back across this picture. The moment we knew he was ours (and I think he knew too)!
New puppy doesn't even have his collar yet!
He LOVES to ride in the car, but always wants to be closer to mom and dad!
But he'd rather be the driver
Not long after we got him, Winston got to take his first family road trip to Palm Springs with mom, dad and uncle Jacob. He shows his excitement in face licks.
And here is where I introduce Winston to the customs of he Jewish roots.
He was excited about wedding day with so many new friends in the house, but for some reason he thought I had time to lay around with him all day long. Good thing the ceremony wasn't until 5:30!
Before the "pay attention to me" growling comes (see below), he makes this face
This is how I get the growling to stop
And when I ask Steve to take cute pictures of him so I can blog about our first year together, he poses in full cuteness
Winston makes me feel special every single day. I freaks the heck out when I walk in the door like he hasn't seen me in years. He cuddles right up to me and insists on touching me at all times. If he wants attention, he growls at me until I let him up on my lap--I'll have to post a video one day--SOOOO CUTE! He makes me smile, he makes me laugh, he sits with me resting his head on my chest when I cry. He brings so much joy to my life and I simply cannot imagine my life without him!
Love you Winnie! Happy 1 year anniversary--you turn 2 in one month! Holy cow, I guess that makes you an adolescent :O)
Just a couple of weeks after moving in to our house last August, Steve made me a deal--when all the boxes were unpacked, we could get a puppy. I'd been whining about wanting one of my very own for the last 6 years and it was one of the things I was most excited for when we bought our house--my own puppy! Well then Steve through his back out in the move and if you know me, you know I suck at things like unpacking, being organized and motivating myself for things I don't want to do, but the idea of a puppy on the other end helped put my booty in gear and within a few short weeks, I had everything ready to go!
We looked at a few other dogs before meeting Winnie. I kept telling Steve the others weren't right and I was waiting for some feeling I couldn't explain. He was starting to doubt my illogical approach to puppy selection until we showed up at the humane society, he caught a glimpse of li'l Win and said "I think this is the one!' We took him out to the trial area and within moments he licked my face and I felt that thing--he was SO the one!
I may or may not have started crying when I came back across this picture. The moment we knew he was ours (and I think he knew too)!
New puppy doesn't even have his collar yet!
He LOVES to ride in the car, but always wants to be closer to mom and dad!
But he'd rather be the driver
Not long after we got him, Winston got to take his first family road trip to Palm Springs with mom, dad and uncle Jacob. He shows his excitement in face licks.
And here is where I introduce Winston to the customs of he Jewish roots.
He was excited about wedding day with so many new friends in the house, but for some reason he thought I had time to lay around with him all day long. Good thing the ceremony wasn't until 5:30!
Before the "pay attention to me" growling comes (see below), he makes this face
This is how I get the growling to stop
And when I ask Steve to take cute pictures of him so I can blog about our first year together, he poses in full cuteness
Winston makes me feel special every single day. I freaks the heck out when I walk in the door like he hasn't seen me in years. He cuddles right up to me and insists on touching me at all times. If he wants attention, he growls at me until I let him up on my lap--I'll have to post a video one day--SOOOO CUTE! He makes me smile, he makes me laugh, he sits with me resting his head on my chest when I cry. He brings so much joy to my life and I simply cannot imagine my life without him!
Love you Winnie! Happy 1 year anniversary--you turn 2 in one month! Holy cow, I guess that makes you an adolescent :O)
Chipmunk spinning
It's a good thing yesterday was such a good day, because I woke up this morning feeling less than peppy. Let me rewind, first I woke up at about 2:30 am feeling like this
Apparently, I have a wisdom tooth situation. I started to feel the pain as it began to invade my mouth yesterday morning and by mid evening it have amplified. I treated myself to a nonfat hot chai latte from The Bux to ease my pain and make my heart happy (I love chai lattes, but the Starbucks ones are so sugary I almost never order them), downed 600 mg of IBuprofen and by the time I was done teaching, I had almost forgotten about my pain. That is until the meds wore off and it woke me up at 2:30 am screaming and forcing it's stupid way into my mouth. Let me tell you, these wisdom teeth don't mess around. My entire left side of my jaw hurts all the way back into the left side of my throat. And if you look closely, you can see that my left cheek is slightly swelled up like a chipmunk.
I laid in bed for a good 45 minutes in pain, hoping to fall back asleep before I finally got up, re-medicated and sat at the computer waiting for the drugs to work their magic until about 4am. Finally I was able to fall back asleep (the drugs seem to be doing their trick!), but when 7:30 rolled around and it was time to get up and get ready for spin, I was in no mood! Luckily I had already made the plan and had managed to convince myself that my burning leg pain would take my mind off the left half of my face.
Kara and I arrived at the gym for our second spin class this week!
Today was an endurance ride and it totally kicked my butt. I realized during Tuesdays class that I am kind of a wimp when it comes to speed. I will almost never turn back the gear, but have no problem dropping 10 RPMs when my legs get jello-y. The teacher on Tuesday gave us RPM ranges to stick to with specific numbers and I realized just how far behind I had been allowing myself to stay. My goal for today was to keep those numbers in mind and not let myself off the hook when it comes to speed--even if it means my hills weren't as steep. It made a big difference--I had been coming in lazily at 18-19 miles per ride, and today I definitely stepped it up!
I must say, the hardest part of spin twice in one week is...well...my, umm entire bike sitting section is screaming for mercy! I don't know if you've ever spent a lot of time on a bike seat, but it is painful in more ways than one, and my body is not pleased with it right now haha. Still totally worth it.
After the gym, I went over to Trader Joe's because I was out of protein powder and of course ended up buying like 10 other things that were not on my list.
I really am almost out of yogurt, bananas, Ezekiel bread and oh so delicious sunflower butter, but the rest were impulse buys. Especially the tofu. I always respond to the word tofu with a scrunch between my eyebrows and a look of judgement in my eyes, but I know it's a good source of non animal protein and I see people write about eating it all the time and loving it, so I decided to try some and see how it goes. Anyone have any recommendations on what to make with it that will make me fall in love?
After a good work out, a delicious iced coffee, grocery shopping (one of my fav things to do--I know you think I'm nuts, but I could go almost every day without complaint) and coming home to the cutest email from Steve (a link to this article saying "This would be you. Hope you're feeling better." He is seriously the BEST!), I am definitely in better spirits. Gonna keep medicating and live off of oatmeal, yogurt and smoothies for probably a few days.
PS: Does a sore throat/mouth area make anyone else want to eat ice cream and only ice cream all day long? Uggghhh. Must.fight.the.urge.
Apparently, I have a wisdom tooth situation. I started to feel the pain as it began to invade my mouth yesterday morning and by mid evening it have amplified. I treated myself to a nonfat hot chai latte from The Bux to ease my pain and make my heart happy (I love chai lattes, but the Starbucks ones are so sugary I almost never order them), downed 600 mg of IBuprofen and by the time I was done teaching, I had almost forgotten about my pain. That is until the meds wore off and it woke me up at 2:30 am screaming and forcing it's stupid way into my mouth. Let me tell you, these wisdom teeth don't mess around. My entire left side of my jaw hurts all the way back into the left side of my throat. And if you look closely, you can see that my left cheek is slightly swelled up like a chipmunk.
I laid in bed for a good 45 minutes in pain, hoping to fall back asleep before I finally got up, re-medicated and sat at the computer waiting for the drugs to work their magic until about 4am. Finally I was able to fall back asleep (the drugs seem to be doing their trick!), but when 7:30 rolled around and it was time to get up and get ready for spin, I was in no mood! Luckily I had already made the plan and had managed to convince myself that my burning leg pain would take my mind off the left half of my face.
Kara and I arrived at the gym for our second spin class this week!
Today was an endurance ride and it totally kicked my butt. I realized during Tuesdays class that I am kind of a wimp when it comes to speed. I will almost never turn back the gear, but have no problem dropping 10 RPMs when my legs get jello-y. The teacher on Tuesday gave us RPM ranges to stick to with specific numbers and I realized just how far behind I had been allowing myself to stay. My goal for today was to keep those numbers in mind and not let myself off the hook when it comes to speed--even if it means my hills weren't as steep. It made a big difference--I had been coming in lazily at 18-19 miles per ride, and today I definitely stepped it up!
I must say, the hardest part of spin twice in one week is...well...my, umm entire bike sitting section is screaming for mercy! I don't know if you've ever spent a lot of time on a bike seat, but it is painful in more ways than one, and my body is not pleased with it right now haha. Still totally worth it.
After the gym, I went over to Trader Joe's because I was out of protein powder and of course ended up buying like 10 other things that were not on my list.
I really am almost out of yogurt, bananas, Ezekiel bread and oh so delicious sunflower butter, but the rest were impulse buys. Especially the tofu. I always respond to the word tofu with a scrunch between my eyebrows and a look of judgement in my eyes, but I know it's a good source of non animal protein and I see people write about eating it all the time and loving it, so I decided to try some and see how it goes. Anyone have any recommendations on what to make with it that will make me fall in love?
After a good work out, a delicious iced coffee, grocery shopping (one of my fav things to do--I know you think I'm nuts, but I could go almost every day without complaint) and coming home to the cutest email from Steve (a link to this article saying "This would be you. Hope you're feeling better." He is seriously the BEST!), I am definitely in better spirits. Gonna keep medicating and live off of oatmeal, yogurt and smoothies for probably a few days.
PS: Does a sore throat/mouth area make anyone else want to eat ice cream and only ice cream all day long? Uggghhh. Must.fight.the.urge.
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