Productive Monday

Well, for once I got everything accomplished on a Monday that I had set out to do. Work was a super productive day, which is always a good thing. The more exciting part of my day is that after work I went to the gym for 45 minutes, then went to the market and then went home and made Turkey Chili for dinner! (*Thanks to my friend Katherine for the recipe*) After all of that we also did one load of laundry. I love doing laundry during the week and keeping up with everything around the house. That way when the weekend comes you're not faced with having to do a ton of laundry and house cleaning - you can actually use the weekend to relax and do fun things!

Of course Ben and I didn't start eating until 8:45 last night, but still - I got it all done and the best part is that we have dinner already set for tonight and maybe tomorrow.

My goal for the week: to get to the gym on a regular basis. I don't know about you, but for me summer is the time that I tend to slack off on my "regular" work outs. Who wants to go to the gym when it's super nice summer weather?! I probably went to the gym about once a week during the summer. Of course I took really nice walks during lunch, played tennis with Ben after work and did a fair amount of bike riding.... taking the subway to work also helps. Have you ever realized how much extra walking you do when you take public transportation? It is a great thing!

So, yesterday on top of taking the subway to work and getting those extra steps in, I also took a 25 minute walk at lunchtime, and then went to the gym. At Boston Sports Club I did the elliptical machine for 30 minutes and lifted weights for ten minutes. Of course, I could have done more cardio and more weights, but for a Monday I figured that was good enough. I'll be going back tonight and hopefully I'll be able to get a longer work out in. At least tonight I won't have to go to the store and won't have to worry about making dinner for myself.

I hope everyone is having a productive start to their weeks, too. I'll have more updates to come later today!

Cheers!

Larabar

Hi Everyone:

Today I tried my first LaraBar and I wanted to tell everyone about it. It is an amazing "energy" bar which is totally natural. The one I had today was Banana Bread. . . and there were only three ingredients which I find amazing! They were: almonds, dates and unsweetened bananas! Another thing I love about these bars is that they are sodium free, which is so rare these days. Anyhow, you can get them at Whole Foods, so check them out.

The other big news of the day is that I finally got a hair cut! I'm so pleased. I went to Michaels Salon @ 310 Harvard Street right in Coolidge Corner. Erin cut my hair and I would highly recommend her to anyone who is looking for a good and nice stylist to cut their hair! She was really sweet, and it was an enjoyable experience. Another important thing - she listened to my ideas, told me what she thought and I got the hair cut I both needed and wanted.

Oh, one more thing.... due to my new obsession with Eat, LIve, Run (thanks Jenna!) I discovered the Greek yoghurt chobani now comes in Vanilla! Yay - I am still developing a taste for the plain (I have to admit, I never liked the traditional plain yoghurt either!) so the vanilla goes a long way for me. It is still fat free, still only has 13 grams of carbs (amazing!) and 16 grams of protein - it's like the perfect food. Check it out at Whole Foods. The chobani also comes in blueberry, and possibly another flavor that I can't remember.

Ok, closing for now. Going to get back to my reading!

It's been way too long...

I am well over due for a new blog post, although I am sure that no one has noticed. A few house keeping notes. I have a new favorite blog that I love reading - Eat Live Run - and I highly recommend it to my friends that love food and exercise!! It's the absolute perfect mix, so check it out!

So, it is the middle of September, and we've had a few days that feel like fall already - which I am oh so pleased about. After spending the weekend on the Vineyard, and being soaked for a good deal of it (it rained all three days we were there) I have fallen in love with a new tea! Cinnamon tea is my new favorite. I had it at my favorite place in Edgartown, The Newes and now that I'm back on the mainland, I'm having a hard time finding a comparable tea! Tonight I took a trip to Whole Foods with my good friend Jenn, and had to settle for an Apple Cinnamon tea, and it simply doesn't compare to what I had on the Vineyard. So, the search continues. I'm definitely sipping my new tea while I type, and it's not bad, just not exactly what I'm looking for.

When it comes to tea - has anyone else ever been to the Celestial Seasonings headquarters / factory in Boulder, Colorado? Ben and I went this past December when we were out in Colorado over our Christmas break. The tour was so much fun, I loved it. The best part is when they take you into the room where the store all of the peppermint! I could have stayed in that room for a long time, just breathing in deeply. It was so cleansing! Well, if anyone is out in the Denver area - go to Celestial Seasonings for a tour - you won't be let down!

This past weekend on the Vineyard Ben and I did a lot of biking. It was sort of fun. A lot better once I bought a new bike seat for my Cannondale. If anyone else has a Cannondale F7 out there or is thinking about buying one, let me tell you - it's a great bike - but you need to buy another seat before you go on a decent ride. The seat the bike comes with is horrible! The pedals are a little small, but other than that - it's a great bike.


Well, I think that's enough for tonight. What a random blog posting!! But I'll feel good just to get something up there.

Hope you're all well. I'm signing off to get back to my reading - I'm reading one of Doris Kearns Goodwin's classics - No Ordinary Time. If you are a fan of political history, WWII, FDR, or just want to read a great book pick it up - it's well worth your time!

China on 8/8/08

So, most of my day was spent getting really excited for the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics. It's strange because I'm not psyched about the Olympics being hosted by China. I think the government has a lot of human rights issues that it needs to deal with and it upsets me a lot. For a lot time I thought I would just boycott the Olympics this summer and not watch them. Over the last few months I changed my mind, and we'll just have to wait and see how the whole thing plays out. All I have to say is right now Ben and I are watching the Opening Ceremonies and I am amazed - it is beautiful.

An October day in August

It was too bad today wasn't a weekend. I woke up feeling like it was the perfect day to stay in bed with a cup of tea and a great book. It wasn't a typical August day, when I was in a hurry to get to work - and to the free air conditioning at my office! It was cloudy, rainy, dreary and cool.

Over lunch I had one of my usual summer meals, consisting of a spinach salad with tuna and a piece of Tuscan style bread. I found myself envious of my friend's lunch of chicken soup and a baked potato she bought from our caf at work. A perfect fall meal for a surprisingly fall day for the first week of August.

I was proud of us for sticking to our daily lunch routine; after eating our meals we donned our wind breakers and sneakers for a quick walk around the bay. On a lot of the spring, summer and fall days we will walk three miles at lunch. But today we left the building to a few raised eyebrows.... Our efforts on this dreary day solicited a few skeptical comments. "You girls are going out in this?" said one older gentleman who was familiar with our routine. Jill and I looked at him, and then at each other... I simply shrugged and said, "Well, it's not raining yet." I should have said, 'it is not raining at the moment' because my statement was not accurate. It had been raining off and on all day.

The pavement was wet as we walked out the door into the mist. The condensation collected on my face and I found it refreshing. We had walked about 150 yards when we saw a puddle. I watched a few raindrops ripple through the collected water and realized that it was actually raining. We took a few more steps before turning around. By the time we got back to the building the rain was steady, slowly soaking into our outer layers.

When I got back to my desk, I went to www.weather.com and entered in my zip code. I waiting as my computer churned.... wondering how cold it was outside. I shuttered when my computer monitor displayed 61°.

It was definitely the day that comes around at least once a summer, usually sometime in August. It's the day that reminds you that summer days are fleeting, and that autumn is right around the corner.

A few thoughts on how to be Green... these are easy ways to a more environmentally friendly life!

Over the last few months I've had a few friends comment on how I have been living a "green life" and they have asked me for a few pointers on how they could start making small changes to be more environmentally aware.

I figured I might as well write a few ideas on this blog, in case anyone read this.

The first thing to think about is that even if you walk away from your computer after reading this and make one change that is a huge step in the right direction. If everyone would change one habit in their life to be more eco-friendly, we would be in better shape every day.

About a year ago, I made a few key changes in our household. Here are some of them:

Ben and I now use cloth napkins instead of throw away paper napkins. We both love this - not only are we generating less trash, but we feel like we're eating out at a fancy restaurant every night we use them!

Ben and I bring our own grocery bags to the market. Plastic bags are some of the worst things for the planet. For more information on how horrible they are, please visit this slide show that will show you what happens to plastic bags after we use them at the store. A lot of stores make it benificial to bring your own bags. Whole Foods now gives 5 cents off your total bill for every reusable bag you bring to the store with you! Trader Joe's has a raffle for customers that bring their reusable bags to shop with. At the check out counter ask for the raffle ticket, fill out your name and telephone number, and hand it back. I hope you win!

I have a set of bamboo utensils that I bring with me in my purse or my tim-buk-2 bag. This enables me to not use plastic utensils when they are the only option. At my office, our cafeteria only has plastic spoons, knives and forks.... and I was using one or two a day. The plastic is very hard to break down in a landfill, and when it does the plastic often sets off harmful chemicals into the environment once it does break down....

My bamboo set came from To Go Ware.... and you can go on-line to see what they have. There are other great options on their website, including ceramic coffee cups, stainless steel lunch containers, etc. But for starters I would recommend the bamboo set - it comes with a fork, spoon, knife and a set of chop sticks! The picture shows my set of bamboo!

Start bringing a travel coffee mug with you! Ok, seriously - my friends will tell you that my purse is pretty big. You might be getting the picture by now - I have my utincils and a coffee mug that I'm always carrying around. But these two things make a huge difference! If you're a coffee drinker (or a tea, lattee, mocha drinker!) you might be going through a few paper cups a day from your local Starbucks or Au Bon Pain. A lot of local coffee shops give discounts to people who bring travel mugs for their morning coffee. I don't know about you, but my local Au Bon Pain offers a "refill" price for using a mug!

A fun tip - let your mug be an expression of yourself. I carry around a upbeat Life Is Good mug. Their company slogan is a great motto to live by - Do what you like. Like what you do.


<---- Here is my mug!

One more idea that can be useful both around the office and on your personal e-mail... A friend of mine started using an eco-friendly electronic signature on his e-mail, reminding people not to print if you don't need to. Here is a sample signature:

P Save Trees. Please print only when necessary.

The benefit of such a message below all of your e-mail correspondence is enormously beneficial. It not only will make people think twice about hitting that pesky PRINT button, but it might make them remember about the use of paper in other ways, too. Once I saw my friend Sam's signature, it made me remember to use less around the office and at home. I now use scrap paper to write notes to myself at the office, instead of reaching for my yellow legal pad of paper, and I archive my e-mail conversations instead of printing them out. Save a tree!

Well, these ideas are only a simple start.... but go ahead and make a change if you haven't already. I will write tomorrow with a more ideas.

Our Newest Family Member

On July 10, 2008 Ben and I brought home our newest family member, a tiger calico kitten named Daisy. Ben had cats growing up, but I was a new cat owner so I wanted to do my research before we brought Daisy home. We had been discussing getting a kitten for two months, and during this time I read two books about having cats and kittens as pets. I wanted to make sure I was fully prepared (or prepared as I could be) to share my home with a new animal companion! The two books that I read were wonderfully informative, and had a lot of duplicate information, but I am glad that I read both of them since they had two different perspectives. The book titles were, The Everything Cat Book
and Cats for Dumbies which were both great reads! The books really helped me get prepared for bringing Daisy home.

The night before we brought her home, Ben and I went to the pet store to get a few of the essentials (litter box, litter, Iams kitten dry food and a couple of cans of Iams wet kitten food and a few toys that we thought she might like).

Another important thing we did for the kitten was set up a safe room. We decided that our bathroom would be her safe room, because it was easy to take everything out of the room that she could hurt herself on. We're lucky because our bathroom is very spacious, and we have a large window that she likes to look out onto the world by - it's also a good thing because it provides a nice breeze and can keep the room cool.

Daisy adjusted quickly to our home. There are always a few difficult obstacles when you bring a new kitten home.


Now we are in the process of letting her explore more rooms in the house. At first (the first couple of days that she was new in our home) we limited her to the living room and bathroom while we were all getting used to each other. After a couple of days (and some cat proofing between the refrigerator, oven, and washer and dryer - these were places that she would get stuck and not know what to do and places that she could get hurt!) we opened up the kitchen to her exploring. She has done very well in not challenging the areas she is not supposed to go to (i.e. behind the washer!)

After a couple of weeks we have opened up the loft area to Daisy. Ben worked hard in cleaning up the space so there weren't areas that she could get trapped in or any glass objects that she could break. That is one thing about having a new kitten - once they can, they love climbing and exploring. If you have a vase or anything breakable on a shelf, be sure that the kitten will not be able to reach it, or move it to a room that he or she will not be in unless she is very well looked after!

So far it's been wonderful having our kitten. I'll use this blog as a bit of a story board to report any little mishaps along the way - but so far we've been doing well.