Tag Archives: bloggers

Coming Up for Air

Lately, I’ve felt a little stretched thin with work, Junior League, training for two half-marathons, blogging, taking care of Bailey, nutrition classes and having a social life all taking up mental real estate as well as real estate in my calendar and on my to-do list.

I used to be AWFUL at time management. I still have a ways to go, but I’ve made some strides to make my life easier. The two biggest things that have been most helpful to me: JUST DO THE DAMN THING–it’s so much easier to get something over with than to just dread it and keep putting it off–and making lists.

I used to HATE lists (I thought I would turn into my mom), but goddamn if keeping a paper to-do list and using Google Tasks haven’t made my life easier. I keep lists in Google Tasks for Home, Work, Junior League and Blog, and yes, I sometimes put things on there just so I can erase them. I even put responding to e-mails on there, since lord knows that that can take up quite a bit of time.

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And the literal parting of clouds outside has helped with the proverbial parting of clouds inside my head. THANK GOD FOR SUNSHINE.

Things I’m Loving About Today (inspired by Emily):

  • sunshine
  • a decent meeting at work
  • buying a new eyeliner (Nars Mambo, instead of my usual Nars Manon)
  • making hair and nail appointments for the ball  
  • going to the post office 201103021544.jpg

(via)

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What about you? Time management expert or still learning, like me? (If you are awesome with time management…how can I be like you? :)) And anything awesome for you today?

Small Tweaks for a Big Difference

I lost a good portion of my weight by making dead-easy (but also boring) meals like chicken patties with plain brown rice and plain broccoli. Healthy but incredibly boring. I used to look at recipes and think there were too many unhealthy ingredients–too much milk, sugar, cheese, whatever it was.

The more I read health blogs, the more I realize that there are plenty of ways to make healthy food that’s not boring (and that even an “unhealthy” meal I make myself is still probably healthier than its restaurant/takeout equivalent), and I’ve been trying to cook and entertain more lately. Slowly, I’m turning grabbing takeout for at least half of my meals into trying to cook as much as possible so I can save money. I mean, what good is losing all this weight if I can’t buy fun clothes????

I’m also REALLY trying to become a morning exerciser/more organized person. (Um, maybe these are actually BIG TWEAKS.) While I usually don’t make it to the gym in the morning, even I can roll out of bed and into my living room to do a workout DVD and a few minutes of yoga. And if I have a few more minutes, instead of reading blogs (which, although I love, is honestly a HUGE time suck for me), I can do something productive like cook. Which I did for the second day in a row BEFORE WORK. I sauteed some spinach, onions and chicken sausage to add into my risotto.

But to be honest? The one habit I’ll never give up? Hopping on my scale every morning. After losing 50 pounds, I need to know that I’m keeping it off. And if I didn’t hop on every day, I wouldn’t have realized that I freaked out on Monday and was just retaining a little water–just from pumping my body with lots of water, the scale already says 4 pounds less than it did on Monday.

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Oops, that’s not a change 🙂

Also, I’m really honored that Tina named me one of her “health heroes” in her latest Health.com post. Tina is definitely one of my favorite bloggers, and I’m lucky now to also call her a real-life friend, so it really means a lot to me! Also, I’m in good company over there.