Getting into the Holiday Season (Pictures)

I feel like every year the holidays come faster and faster and before I've had time to get into the season it's over and I'm just left with 4 months of cold weather. This year I'm trying to really enjoy the holidays. I'm home in Dallas now (I flew in today) and I want to enjoy this time with my parents before I fly back to Philadelphia (and work) in a week. So far, here are a few of the little moments I've been relishing.

My discovery of Whole Foods delicious oatmeal bar!

My favorite soup from Trader Joe's! Have you tried it?

A Pinterest worthy veggie turkey one of my coworkers made for our Thanksgiving lunch at work! 

The delicious food from my work Thanksgiving lunch!

Scoping out mini trees at Whole Foods for our apartment!

The beautiful fall foliage everywhere!

Gifts Under $50: The Sporty One

I absolutely LOVE buying presents for people. It's so satisfying to find something that you know is just perfect for someone in your life. I like to think I'm a pretty great gift-giver. This holiday season I'll be making a few lists of gift ideas for the people in our lives. Oh and if you don't have money (like me) everything will be under $50.

Gifts Under $50: The Sporty One by healthysimplesmart

Bkr Glass & Silicone Sleeve Water Bottle
ahalife.com
$28.00

Hell-Bent: Obsession, Pain, and the Search for Something Like...
barnesandnoble.com
$13.70

Lands' End ThermaCheck®-100 Fleece Ear Wrap
landsend.com
$24.00 (on sale now for $9.99)

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael...
barnesandnoble.com
$13.19

Columbia Women's Trail Summit Running Glove
zappos.com
$40.00

Dring Kiwi Bell
chubbyscruisers.com
$20.00

iPod Shuffle 
apple.com
$49.00

The GRID Mini
tptherapy.com
$24.99

Klean Kanteen: Stainless Steel Food Canisters and Containers
kleankanteen.com
$38.95 set of 2

Runner Box
therunnerbox.com
$20.00 gift subscription

Five Favorites: My Current Obsessions

Here's a list of things that I'm excited about this week!

1.  Argus Motion and Fitness App

I downloaded this app the other day and I think it's really pretty/cool. It builds these little hexagons as you go about your day. It estimates calories you've burned using your basal metabolic rate and steps you've taken. You take pictures of your food and add your water, tea, beer, wine, and all physical activities. It's also a step counter (not super accurate) if you leave the app on in the background!

7 Things I've Learned from Giving Up Gluten

(source)

I'm not about to say that this is a permanent life change. I can't bear that thought of never having a burrito in a flour tortilla again or not getting a piece of cake at someone's birthday party or not being able to order french onion soup again, but maybe that is the case. As you might have been able to guess (or read) I've given up gluten for the time being.

I'm not saying it is something everyone should do, and I'm not sure if it's the right choice for me forever or not. All I'm saying is I've been gluten free for two weeks now, and this is what I have learned so far:

Gifts Under 50: The Lover of Fine Things

I absolutely LOVE buying presents for people. It's so satisfying to find something that you know is just perfect for someone in your life. I like to think I'm a pretty great gift-giver. This holiday season I'll be making a few lists of gift ideas for the people in our lives. Oh and if you don't have money (like me) everything will be under $50.

Gifts Under 50: The Lover of Fine Things by healthysimplesmart

Lands End Single Bottle Wine Tote
landsend.com
$14.50

Wooden Coasters
etsy.com
$15.00 for set of 4

Classic Six Pack Carrier
Meriwether.com
$42.00

Slate Cheese Serving Board
williams-sonoma.com
$44.95

Silicone Ice Sphere Molds, Set of 2
williams-sonoma.com
$12.95

Jonathan Adler Carnaby Zebra Stacking Dish
jonathanadler.com
$24.00

Komforte Chockolate Ramen Noodle Bar
seattlechocolates.com
$3.95

The Perfect Thanksgiving Menu

(Source)

Luckily, I am going home to Dallas for this Thanksgiving which means that I'll just help my parents out with the cooking. But, I am excited to one day make my very own Thanksgiving dinner. This is what my perfect Thanksgiving menu would look like this year. The titles link to the recipe. Bon Appetite!

Five Favorites: Fitness Apps

I love how there are so many great apps that can make your life easier, but I find a bunch of the fitness apps out there to be kinda clunky (and I'm not looking to pay big $$$ for them). But there definitely are some great ones out there. Here is a list of my top five fitness apps.

In no particular order:

1. Nike Training Club

Balsamic Winter Vegetable Bowls

Sorry about the picture quality, I'm working with an Iphone :)

The other night my boyfriend and I went grocery shopping which resulted in us having lots of yummy vegetables around the house. I was feeling inspired, so I threw a bunch of stuff in a pan and it came out delicious! Here's the recipe:

Pictures!

Love meeeee

I have a lot of random pictures on my phone and I just wanted to share some of them with you all today. Enjoy.

Five Favorites: Links I'm Loving Right Now

Only the best for you.

Trans Fat: What Are They and Why the FDA Is Finally Banning Them- Gizmodo

I mean, because we know it's bad but what the hell is Trans Fat?

Recipe Pick: No Bean Turkey and Sweet Potato Chili

Doesn't winter just make you want to curl up with a big steaming bowl of something and watch Parks and Recreation reruns? I know, me too! This week is really busy (read: stressful) for me so I'm looking forward to taking it down a notch next week and relaxing a bit more.

This recipe is from the website SkinnyTaste.com. I have so much success when making recipes from Skinny Taste and I'm looking forward to trying this one out sometime next week. And, just because I'm a badass, I think I might add some black beans. I live on the edge.

5 Important Lessons for the Young Professional

I hope your workplace is as bright and cheery as this place, but unless you work
for Google, I'm going to guess that it's not.

I like to call myself a young profession. It's a very exciting term I get to use which means that I am a rare 20-something who is gainfully employed by a career, not a job, a career. I'm very proud that both my boyfriend and myself are in stable, respectable careers that we worked hard to earn.

We both completed 2 years with AmeriCorps, which is a national service organization.  If you are a young person who is looking for something to fill a gap year or set you apart from other job applicants I do encourage you to check out AmeriCorps positions, both my boyfriend and myself obtained jobs directly because of our service with AmeriCorps.

Anyway, AmeriCorps infomercial aside, I've learned a few important lessons from my 2 years in the job field. I'd like to share them with you. (Warning: I use some expletives).

Five Favorites: Links I'm Loving Right Now

Okay, here are my 5 favorite links of the week. The list is heavy on the Buzzfeed.com but then again, so is my life.

30 Delicious Things to Cook in November- Buzzfeed

Food porn w/ recipes

My November Challenge

November marks the beginning of the holiday season, which means that I am dreaming of turkey, stuffing, hot chocolate, whipped cream, and pretty much anything decadent and warm. This is when my physical activity really plummets because it's too dark and cold in the morning and too dark and cold at night. My main goals this November have to do with staying focused this holiday season:

• Lithe at least 4 times a week- Lithe Method is my new obsession. It is a cheerleading-cardio hybrid class. Think cheerleading, bootcamp, barre method, and pilates rolled into one!

• Get more sunlight- I am a firm believer in the power of some good ol' vitamin D to improve your health

• Make at least 3 new squash dishes- I looove roasted butternut squash but I want to branch out and experiment with some acorn squash and spaghetti squash

• Try a kettlebell workout- I have a kettlebell at home but I've never used it!

• Learn crow pose in yoga- I love yoga but I am not very good at it. This month I want to push myself to get this move down!

• Complete the Doyouyoga.com 30 Day Yoga Challenge- If you haven't seen the badge, I'm a MyYogaPro Ambassador which is a new project that doyouyoga.com has undertaken. I'm so excited for them to launch MyYogaPro, but in the meantime I want to take their 30 Day Yoga Challenge. 

• Live more mindfully- My boyfriend and I recently had this conversation about mindfulness and how the whole point is to be in the moment and believe that the present moment is the best moment of your life. I know I need to be more mindful of things because I spend way too much of my time hoping time will pass quicker and looking ahead to things to come rather than enjoying where I am right now.

October Goals Check-In:

• Successfully complete the Coursera course "Organizational Analysis"- 
• Incomplete (it was wayyyy too boring)

• Do yoga every day- 
• 15/31 days I'll try to beat this number in November!

• Make healthier choices- 
• Success!

• Drink 2 cups of green tea a day- 
• FAIL! I'll try to drink more

• Cook 3 crock pot meals- 
• Complete: 4/3! Extra credit!

• Read 2 books- 
• 1/2 books read; 50% not bad

• Stop buying (so many) unnecessary things- 
• Depends who you ask. I say SUCCESS!

• Start loving my body more- 
• Yes, slowly but surely.

What are your November goals?