Today Brought to You by Pinterest

Well, I finally started using Pinterest. Welcome to 2010(ish?) I tried using Pinterest before, but I just don't get it. So you pin a bunch of things to a board and then what??? If I'm going to use Pinterest then I actually want to use the things that I find and not just pin it and forget it. 

So, yesterday night, when I found out that today would be a snow day for my office, I immediately began making a list of all the things I wanted to do today, inspired by Pinterest. Here it is:

• Wake up
• Do a workout challenge

• 30 Minutes of yoga for flexibility with Yoga Studio App
• eat breakfast
• check email
• paint toes
• blog
• do another workout challenge

• eat lunch

(Found this on Pintrest from here)

• stretch & watch tv (maybe catch up on Revenge)
• clean-up around the house
• do a Lithe workout (it probably won't make much sense unless you belong to Lithe)
• 15 min post-run yoga

• more blogging
• do my Coursera work

I'm taking two courses. This one is for my own personal interest. You can still sign up for it now!

This course is one I'm taking for my job. I'm really learning a lot!

• watch some shows
• roast root vegetables with chicken and sauteed kale for dinner

I'm a little over zealous, but I wanted to make the most of my day off!

What are you up to today? Have you had any Pinterest success?

Snow Day!

If you're on the Northeast coast then you're aware that there's another polar vortex. Which means that I got to have a half day at work today (I got sent home early). Knowing that it would be snowy and cold, I started off my day right with some vanilla bean black tea and some raisin bran (you know you're old when you chose to eat it and enjoy it). 

Like my cowboy mug?

My walk to work was cold but enjoyable. Everyone was prepping for the snow.

Blue salt?!?! Crazy, right?

It started snowing around 9:30 and was really coming down by 11:00. I would have taken some snowy pictures but I was too busy fighting the crazy windy snowy cold so instead here is an adorable dinosaur picture.

I ended up being a total adult when I got home and deep cleaned our bathroom, washed dishes, did laundry, and cooked dinner. 

I already found out that I have off work tomorrow, so I'm hoping to get in a good at-home workout and roast some root vegetables and chicken! I hope you're staying safe and warm!

Rainy Weekend

Super rainy day walking through the park

It's not always sunny in Philadelphia. It was a rainy weekend here in Philadelphia. After what felt like the longest work week ever, I got home Friday night and just laid in bed and watched TV. Yep, that's all. 

On Saturday I had an intense cardio session at my gym which my legs are still sore from today! Saturday night my boyfriend and I went to stay at my sister's house just outside the city. We played card games, ate candy, and drank RumChatta with Fireball Whiskey (it's called a Cinnamon Toast Crunch).

Sunday morning Nick (my boyfriend) and I went to Homegoods to pick up a few organizing things for our apartment. On the way home we stopped at Taco Bell and tried the new Grilled Stuft Nachos. They were delicious (like most things at Taco Bell- not being sarcastic) but definitely not what I would call "nachos on the go." Once we got home I cleaned up our apartment, did 3 loads of laundry, organized some of our cupboards, and took a nice long bath. In total it was a nice weekend but way too short. I'm looking forward to the 3 day weekend next week!

One of my favorite views of Pine St. on my walk home from my gym.

Impromptu Photoshoot

Oh hi guys!

Okay, so I was signed up to go to a Lithe Method class yesterday but I cancelled it because I just didn't feel like going. So, instead I promised myself I would workout at home instead. Well, I figured I should document my workout efforts for my blog, and it quickly just spiraled into me taking a lot of pictures on photobooth. Well, workout accomplished?


I started off super serious about my practice for the day

Namaste bitches

And then I started lifting weights. "Oh Sarah, how do you lift those heavy weights with such ease???"

Doing the Rock eyebrow makes you stronger, I swear

What, you mean THESE WEIGHTS????

But, um, you're a girl, aren't those heavy?

Heck no, girl power woooooooooooo!

Then I chilled out in cobra pose and called it a day.

Ciao!

It's a Good Day

I'm in a pretty good mood today. Here's why:

• I woke up early and went to a 7am workout class (which was KILLER! We pulse-lunged for 3 minutes on one side and then 3 minutes on the other owwwwww).
• It's Thursday which means it's almost FRIDAY
• I started to track my food on MyFitnessPal again because I wanted to get more of a handle on my eating again (aka I didn't want to keep eating 8 marshmallows a day + chocolate + caramel corn + all my regular meals + snacks) 
• I'm back to eating my favorite salad for lunches which actually makes me feel great!

• Since I already worked out this morning, my afternoon is open to go to a friend's house and try on clothes that she doesn't want
• I'm finally going to buy one of those adorable, tiny Christmas trees from Whole Foods (and pick up my dry cleaning)
• I just had my FAVORITE soup to go along with my salad today (Shrimp Coconut soup from a Thai place near me.)

If you're not in a good mood you should read this HILARIOUS Buzzfeed list (not to oversell it or anything) called "The Nerdiest Jokes of 2013"

I hope you all have a wonderful day!

I'm Back!

Hello World!

Sorry for the brief (and unmentioned) hiatus I've taken. I took a two week vacation in between starting my new official position at my office and I went to visit my parents in Dallas, TX. But don't worry! I'm back now (see: picture evidence) and you can bet I'll be regularly updating you with vital information such as.....

Pictures of me! (My mom is pretty bad at taking pictures.)

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.

Balance

I've always struggled with balance in my life. When I get involved or interested in something I tend to shift too far in one direction and end up shifting to the other direction in a constant fight to be in the middle, a perfect medium, of the two. For example, exercising: I will go on a big kick where all I can think about it exercise and trying new exercises and working out every day! And I'll do that for a few weeks and then I'll burn myself out, not workout for a couple of days or even a week or two and then I'll be really hard on myself. I lack balance.

I get so excited about adding something new into my life and making room for it, that I push all other things aside. I'm always teetering between one extreme or another. I wish I could say that I worked out every day, no problem. Or that eating healthy was simply my way of life (why are cake and potato chips soooo good?). And that I always have time to volunteer, and read, and take online courses, and cook dinner, and spend time with my boyfriend, and hang out with friends, and and and... But that's just not the way my life is. I have to schedule things (even with myself) and sometimes I break those appointments.

What I really need to focus on is balancing my thoughts. I need to accept that it's OKAY if I miss a workout sometimes, but it's NOT OKAY if missing those workouts starts to affect how I feel about myself. I need to figure out the difference between needing a rest day and not challenging myself enough. I need to realize that building habits takes a lot longer that 21 days sometimes, and that sometimes, the fact that I'm trying needs to be enough. But I know that changing the way I think about things will take a lot of time. For now, I'm just happy that I seem to finally be adopting a schedule and goals that feel attainable, though I still have a long way to go.