Learning to be Flexible

I feel like I post about my quest for balance more than anything else on this blog, I mean where has the music gone? I missed 3 planned concerts in the last week alone-The Xx in Central Park, White Rabbits at East River Park, and Dr. Dog at Governor's Island but ended up spending time with friends in the form of picnics, movie nights, and the beach so no complaints.

But back to the quest for balance. A few weeks ago I wrote about plans to increase my mileage in my weekly runs and at the same time get back into pilates. Well the pilates is in full swing once more, however, instead of increasing my mileage I've cut back on cardio quite a bit. The cut back wasn't intentional; first I was on vacation and traded running for daily hikes and then I returned and was bombarded with work so I kept to shorter time frames on the eliptical and still continued with strength training and pilates 3-4 times a week. At first I was slightly nervous about cutting back and thought for sure I would start feeling my already tight pants get even tighter, but I think they may have gotten slightly looser. Why? Simply because my appetite is way down! I haven't had a morning snack in 3 weeks and am often able to skip my afternoon snack as well.

In fact when 5 o'clock rolls around I'm not running home to have a snack, digest, and make it back to the gym in time for class. Instead I'm able to work a bit later, come home and cook a well balanced meal, digest, and fit in a shorter workout. Not to say I don't love the habit of fitting in the gym in either the morning or the evening for an intense class, but I also love being flexible in my workout routine. Plus, I've really missed pilates (much preferred to yoga), after 3 weeks with 3-4 sessions a week, my tummy is getting tighter and I get in a great stretch.

That said, I still was beating my self up a bit today for not making it to my sculpting class. Now mind you I was up at 6, read for an hour and then got ready and headed into my lab. I worked pretty much straight until I went to volunteer for my CSA 3-5:20, and then returned to lab for another 1.5 hr. At this point my feet were killing me, I was definitley ready for dinner, but still I felt guilty about missing the class. Why? My mind and body were asking for some downtime, not to mention there is always tomorrow right? I strive for excellence in all aspects of life, I want to be social, fit, and a rockstar in the lab; but I'm not there yet or at least not happily there and thus the quest continues. I do think that I am closer to that balance and mostly just need to learn to relax and let go and will for now continue to take it one day at a time.

Nicole

Whoopie!!...Pie

Hi all! I have been MIA for a couple of weeks because I was visiting family in Texas and then when I got back, I was dog/house sitting for a week. Of course, I forgot my camera cord, so I couldn't upload any pictures!

I was dogsitting Murphy, the german shepherd mix!



People have been asking me how Texas was, and the first thing I say is IT'S HOT! Over 100 degrees every day, and with humidity smacking you in the face is not much fun. So during my week there, I tried to stay indoors except to use the pool, which my second cousins wanted to be in 24/7. I had a lot of fun reconnecting to my southern relatives, it was nice to see them because I hadn't seen them in over a year. Other than swimming, we went to the Houston Aquarium, helped at St. Vincent DePaul food kitchen, and saw a great concert.

Here's a couple of my second cousins. They are so cute!




So the concert I went to is a great rock group? Here's some hints: the band started in the '70's and has a roller coaster in Disney World. Yes, I got to see Aerosmith! I just couldn't pass up seeing these rock legends. Steven Tyler looks exactly the same as he always has (hmm... botox?) and he was crazy, running and jumping all over the stage even though he's in his late 60's! I've heard he's screwed up concerts before, but ours went along without a hitch! It was a great night, other than the weather. It was an outside venue, with a massive tent over the seated section and lawn seats in the back. We were row T, but even in the shade, the humidity did us in. Let's just say we were all very sweaty by the end of the show!





Today, I was watching food network and Paula Deen was making red velvet whoopie pies. They looked so good, I made some for myself! They turned out great too!

Have a good week!
~Sarah

Running low

So I'm running low on food because I traded lab work, laundry, and grocery shopping in for wine tasting and the beach this weekend, would you have had it any other way?

However, this trade left me with few breakfast options this morning. Definitely need to hit up Whole Foods or Trader Joe's this evening.

Anyhow, for breakfast I ended up having an egg sandwich on a hamburger bun I found frozen in the back of my freezer.

I kinda wish I was having this again (breakfast from last Friday), a smoothie cereal bowl:

Featuring Kashi Sunshine cereal and Dahlicious Lassi, an Indian style yogurt drink. I had the mango variety and it was quite delicious ;) (do you see my silly Zebra magnet in the background):

I made out pretty well with my lunch as well...roasted sweet potato and a red pepper with applesauce on the side (I sound like I'm 5). Can't wait to restock my bare kitchen, I deeply miss whole fruit.

Enjoy your Monday!!

Nicole

Long Island Weekend

Guys I had such a wonderful, relaxing weekend, thanks to a couple of adventures out to Long Island/Queens and the company of great friends.

Friday was a pretty relaxing night with a trip to Stogo for non-dairy yogurt and to see Eat Love Pray with Amanda. Loved the movie and definitely recommend if you read the book. I'm not sure if the entire message in the book was conveyed in the movie, but as far as book to movie translations go, it was great.

Saturday a few friends and I drove to visit a few wineries out in LI. We stopped at 5, tasted 4, and had yummy eats along the way.

First up was Dilberto Winery:

I loved the atmosphere of the winery, while sipping on wine there was live music being played and fresh grilled pizza being passed around.

Next up was Harbe's Vineyard Winery:

The Red Horse:

Then off to the Love Lane Kichen to fill our stomachs before a few more pours of wine. By this point I had tasted 11 different wines and was beginning to feel it although I only had about 2-3 sips of each, I guess that adds up pretty quickly.

I ordered the mozzarella and portobello sandwich with onion rings on the side. The sandwich was pretty good although it could have used more mushroom, but the bread was fantastic and the loved the pesto spread. And I devoured the onion rings, can't remember the last time I've had one and they were a nice treat. I also ate a couple of Ryan's sweet potato fries, I can't resist a sweet potato, plus I was debating between onion ring and fries and had the best of both worlds this way.

Next up and my favorite overall, Shinn winery:

Perfect day for wine tasting:

And for photography:

Our last stop for tasting was the Lenz winery:

Canopy made with real grape vines:

Roof of canopy:
It was such a great experience and I liked each winery in it's own way. Lenz had a large selection of a variety of wines and their estate was just beautiful. I could easily see having a wedding on their property.

Later in the evening we headed about 15 minutes away from the wineries toward Greenpoint for seafood and to walk around the cute town center.

After wandering we decided on Claudio's Restaurant for dinner. I ordered the Flounder Bruschetta with a side salad for a slightly lighter meal (sorry dark photo). It was good, but there was too much oil and garlic for me, and it certainly wasn't worth the price. Oh well, you never know til you try.

I ended up reaching my apartment around 12 am and crashed pretty quickly after into my bed. 7 hours later I woke to exercise and get ready for my beach outing with Amanda.

We took a ridiculously long subway ride and reached Rockaway Park Beach. We settled for a bit, ate lunch and decided to walk along the beach.

So glad we did because after a good 30 minute walk down the beach front we came to Breezy Point, which was the beach area we had originally planned to visit.

So glad we wandered, the area was so peaceful, and there were so many cute bike riders. I definitely want to go back, sooner than later with a bike of my own!

Thankfully the rain held off until we reached back into Manhattan this evening. And while a sunny day would have been nice we probably would not have walked and come across Breezy Point. I'm so thankful for the chance to have such an amazing weekend...so sad we are already half through August. 3 more weekends left of summer :(

What did you do this weekend?

Happy Hump Day!

Hey all-

Boy is this week flying by but I'm not complaining I've have a fun weekend planned!!

But for now let's talk about dinner which involved CSA produce of course. I believe as of this week I have received something like 12 pounds of summer squash. Thankfully I was able to unload some on my mom last week. This week I was looking to do something other than steam, sauté, or make into a bread and decided on zucchini fritters.

I shredded 1 large zucchini with half a carrot:

Added about 1/4 tsp of salt, mixed, and let sit for 10 minutes. I then drained all the excess water:

In the meanwhile I beat an egg and added my favorite spices:

Added some flour and mixed everything together:

Then formed into patties and cooked in a bit of olive oil:

For a dip I whipped up a tzatziki like concoction featuring this tiny cucumber:

Unfortunately it turned out to be more seeds than flesh:

The end result:

Dinner was okay, I forgot to add scallions to the fritters and wanted to kick myself. Oh well, I'm sure I'll have more squash to come in the next few weeks.

Dessert, however, was out of this world! I heated up a cup of apricot applesauce with a blondie crumbled in...I'm pretty sure I will be dreaming about this combo!!

Have a pleasant night,

Nicole