New York New York

This is going to jump all over the place, just how you like it right?

First thing’s first. My sister got back from a week-long trip to Peru this past weekend, and I think it might be official that she’s cooler than me.

Bri, in her Bulls jersey, with a baby llama, before hiking Huayna Picchu.

While I haven’t traveled internationally recently (and probably won’t this year) we did go up to New York City this past weekend for my first ever visit! We just stayed the day on Saturday, saw all the touristy sites, and met up with my friend Leslie who was in town for work.

My favorite part of the day was probably seeing the 9/11 Memorial, which was incredibly impactful and so tastefully done. Runner up was our New York-style pizza and some beers. HOWEVER, let me make it clear that Chicago-style pizza will always be my favorite. Always.

the 9/11 Memorial

It’s a busy week over here – on Thursday most of my coworkers and I ship out to Dallas for a work event. I tried my best to get some solid food prep in yesterday for the days that I am here, including this delicious spaghetti squash recipe and then this (paleo) brownie recipe…

I doubled the recipe to make a full pan

Being a compulsive Type A-er, traveling sometimes stresses me out. Seeing that traveling is happening four of the next eight weekends, I’m trying hard to plan ways to set myself up for success – from packing healthy food, to saving all of those obnoxious (yet helpful) no-gym workouts we constantly see all over Pinterest.

Last but not least, I promised an update on oil pulling if I had anything to report. Really… I don’t. I haven’t noticed much, outside of that I kind of enjoyed the process itself (I found it relaxing) and liked the way the coconut oil felt on my lips. Maybe my teeth got whiter? Outside of that, I remained unimpressed. The price of coconut oil probably isn’t worth continuing to oil pull religiously… but I may still do it on occasion, assuming it’s a good oral health ritual. All in all, it was a fun experiment.

That’s all I’ve got. Stay tuned for some Hump Day confessions on Wednesday.

Anyone else have an oil pulling opinion? Got a great travel workout to share? I could use it.

Cheers –

K

Punting

You guys, I have some great news – it’s officially spring!

Baltimore weather cleaned itself up a bit yesterday and today, we pushed 60 degrees and are supposedly doing the same today. I enjoyed a solid 7 miles around the park after work, soaking up all the sun I could get.

I don’t talk about my boyfriend/best friend/better half too much on here, as he is boring prefers to stay out of the spotlight like the coy fox that he is. But I realized a fascinating trend this week, and just had to share.

I like to eat, a lot. We know this. I snack pretty consistently throughout the day at work – probably eating about every 90ish mins or so. I’m not talking like meal sizes, but snacks such as this –

dried cranberries, plantain chips, almonds

I feel pretty confident that I eat more than Andrew – he’s told me his ‘feeding schedule’ before, and he basically eats 3 simple meals, nothing in between.  He’s even told me before that when he’s busy he sometimes forgets to eat lunch, which will forever be a confusing statement to me…

After returning from Chicago last week, I vowed to clean it up a bit. Eating habits in regards to sugar/pizza/alcohol had basically been lax since the holidays, and my work pants were beginning to get angry with me. If we’re being honest, I can’t afford to buy bigger sizes in all colors of my pants, so I opted for the ‘stop eating like a truck driver’ option.

I was serious. I even pulled Andrew aside one night and told him not to tempt me with crap during the week. I EVEN TURNED DOWN HALF PRICE WINE ON DATE NIGHT LAST WEEK.

Food prep is and always will be key for me. The boy is slowly getting on board with that as well.

red pepper with egg/spinach baked into it, paleo pumpkin muffins. breakfast yesterday.

We often call each other Pete. He hates it but can't stop.
 He is also going to hate that I showed this to the world.

Anyways, rewind a few days to this past Tuesday. Weather was cold and crappy, work had been a handful, and the only rower at the gym was broken. On top of it all, traffic was a real gem driving home, and so in the midst of my fury I basically snapped and text Andrew –

‘Pizza tonight?’

He called shortly after, suggesting pizza on Wednesday instead, as Wednesday is typically our date night.

‘No, I want it today, today is officially a cheat day, I just decided.’

Needless to say, he caved without much further argument.

 

buffalo chicken pizza from Saute. so. good. so. bad.
the sauce honestly may or may not be butter?
ignorance is bliss.

I’ve read a few different articles basically stating that being in a relationship can cause weight gain. I mean, it's nothing earth shattering. You form new habits, you feed off of what the other wants to do, you get comfortable, easily cave in, etc. Yet the concept definitely became clearer than ever to me on Tuesday night.

“I hate you for making me eat that, I’m pretty sure I just gained 5 lbs.”

“Andrew, you can’t gain 5 lbs from one meal. It’s fine, it was a cheat day, just eat healthy the week.”

Angry glare.

I rarely drag him down with me. It’s normally the opposite to be honest (love you babe). Yet for one of the first times in a long time, I had shoved mid-week pizza down our throats, and actually felt kind of bad about it.

There is no moral of the story, just me thinking/confessing out loud I suppose. Does anyone else notice the correlation between their eating habits and their relationships – I suppose it could even go as far as friendships as well? It’s interesting stuff; I feel it’s hard for one to stay on track if the other decides to completely punt.

In other news, this weekend we are doing a day trip up to the Big Apple on Saturday to do some sightseeing (I’ve never been to NYC, I know, I know) and to see my friend Les who is up there for work.  It’s a three hour bus trip both ways; I see a lot of reading and Pinterest in my future. The next three weekends I have a lot of travel - New York, Dallas, then Indiana for a wedding.

Speaking of Pinterest, I shall leave you with these two gems -

yes.

Not a fan of pants.

.

Aaaand some #Backthatazzup Friday - a new fav of mine - 

Hope your weekend goes swimmingly, and Spring pops in to hello. Or even better, permanently moves in -

Cheers!

Kait