Core Focused

While my life was engulfed in moving chaos, I ended up spending a week living with my parents. It was so much simpler since all of my day to day stuff was already moved, while all my furniture was not. One thing that I quickly discovered while staying with them, is that I had been living in an apartment that was letting me live in denial. In my old place, the only full length mirror was in my livingroom, and as I had no blinds, and only sheer curtains, this prevented me from ever seeing myself naked. Not that that would typically be a problem, It’s not like I have any need or desire to check out my naked body. However, it is a problem when you stay at your parents house, and realize for the first time that you have a very prominent muffin top.

This really should be of no surprise to me. After-all, I eat when I’m stressed, I eat when I’m bored, I eat when I’m happy, and I have been a combination of all of these things over the past few months.  But its not like I hadn’t been exercising, and I hadn’t even noticed my clothes fitting differently, and the scale had literally not changed so when I saw myself from the chest down, I was sort of startled.  This of course got my thinking about anyone who had seen me naked recently… it’s a short list, but if I was having this reaction to my own body… I’m not even going to finish that thought. It was time for a change.  I know we are typically a lot more critical of our own bodies, because we all have hang-ups and insecurities, which is natural, but that week long stay at my parents house, and a week’s worth of seeing myself naked each day, I was ready to push myself a little bit.

I promptly got out my copy of the Abs Diet for Women and started reading. Though typically I am skeptical of diets in all shapes and sizes, this is actually one I can get on board with. Firstly, it’s not a typical diet plan that involves restricting calories, and depriving yourself of all things delicious. It focuses on twelve main power foods, and they are all tasty things that are already a huge part of my day to day life. Things like peanut butter, olive oil, spinach, almonds, whole grains, milk, berries, and oatmeal. 

 The Abs Diet for Women

It is also not a diet that is really focused on numbers and calories. Yes, as with any diet, it is a way to lose weight, but I feel like the main focus is more about gaining a healthy lifestyle, building more muscle and getting in shape, rather than dropping pounds. Muscle after all weighs more than fat, and the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn (just by doing nothing!) Though there is a great section about how to figure out your body mass index, your percentage of body fat, and how many calories you should be consuming, the main focus of the Abs Diet is about super charging your metabolism, which will in turn build more muscle, and burn more fat. Sadly, I have gotten to the point in my life where my metabolism has slowed down a little bit… at least I’m assuming it has. When I was in college I exercised a few days a week, but nothing too strenuous, and I was drinking a lot more alcohol, and yet I was 10 pounds lighter. Oh to be young. =)  

My favorite thing about the Abs Diet is that it encourages snacking! In fact you are supposed to eat 6 times a day, which means three meals and three snacks. Even though I am not always hungry at snack time, eating more frequently keeps me feeling satiated longer, so I am less likely to fall off the wagon. So many diets you see are a cup of yogurt in the morning, carrot sticks at lunch, and then by the time dinner rolls around your body is so starved for energy that overeating is inevitable. With the Abs diet that is never a problem. This is great for me, because I am constantly snacking at work.  Plus get you a flex meal every week in which you can eat whatever the hell you want. Forget the rules, forget the power foods, indulge your cravings, and start over tomorrow. Talk about freeing! Knowing that you can eat a plate of onion rings without totally un-doing everything you have worked for is my kind of plan.

Another thing I really like about the Abs Diet, is that it comes with a workout plan. Forget hitting a plateau, because there are a variety of exercises for each main muscle group, meaning it is very easy to change up your workout a few times a week. I often get stuck in a rut, and end up doing the same exercises week after week, meaning my body just gets really good at that one exercise, rather than pushing past that. Also there are optional cardio workouts, meaning if I want to I can push and exercise 5 days a week, or 3 days a week, whatever works into my schedule, so if I’m crazed at work one week, and miss a few workouts, it’s not the end of the world. Not only that, but the Abs diet makes it incredibly easy to exercise no matter what your situation or experience level is. There are home versions of every exercise, as well as suggestions for the gym, suggestions for people who have never exercised in their life, and suggestions for people who run five miles a day. There are modifications and adaptations for new mothers, calorie counters, lactose intolerant people and even vegetarians!

Though I’ve only being seriously following the Abs diet for about a week, I am already noticing more definition in my arms and legs. My main goal for the Abs Diet is to becoming longer and leaner, and not necessarily to lose weight (though that would be an added bonus!). The book is chalk full of testimonials from women of all ages, shapes, and sizes and their results after 6 weeks. Though a lot of them did lose some weight, it seems like most of them gained more muscle, and burned more fat rather than shedding pounds. So I’m optimistic about this lifestyle change, even though I’m not sure I will have the promised “flat belly in 6 weeks” at least I’ll be well on my way to a longer and leaner me.  Following the Abs diet has also been a nice distraction from the fact that I am still waiting to hear from graduate schools! At least now I’m making grocery lists, and planning out snacks rather than stalking the postman.  Focusing on the Power 12, is a lot more enjoyable than focusing on the 4 schools I have yet to hear from. Speaking of which, it’s time for my afternoon snack!

The Abs Diet Power 12

1. Almonds and other Nuts
2. Beans and Legumes
3. Spinach and other green vegetables
4. Dairy
5. Instant oatmeal (though any unflavored, unsweetened will work, instant is just more convenient)
6. Eggs
7. Turkey and other lean meats (or in my case, Tofu)
8. Peanut Butter
9. Olive Oil
10. Whole-grain Breads & cereals
11. Extra Protein Powder
12. Raspberries and other berries

Just another malleable Monday

I secretly love Mondays… I know, its sick, who actually loves Mondays? But before you get out the tar and feathers, let me elaborate a bit. See, most weeks Monday serves as my Saturday, only I find Monday is usually more productive than any “real” weekend.

I thoroughly enjoy my real weekends when I get them. I love staying out late in the city, and spending the mornings recovering with good friends over brunch and copious amounts of coffee from any adventures had the previous evening. I love laying around in comfy clothes, exploring new places, trying new restaurants. But I find that having this freedom on Monday (and sometimes Tuesday) often leads to a much more productive “weekend.”

Firstly, I have far less distractions on Mondays. Though I would love to spend the day with friends, our work schedules typically don’t line up, and so while others are busy starting their work week, I get to spend the day playing catch up. Not only do I get to sleep in, I then get to slide into my day, spend a few extra minutes at the gym, linger over my coffee, and I still have time work on projects, write e-mails, clean the bathroom, can run errands, pay bills, write, get organized, make lists ,and do what I need to do to get on track for the week. And it’s sort of silly, but since I have the chance to do all of these tasks on Monday, I am much more motivated the rest of the week. I find that if I get the ball rolling on Monday, the trend continues in everything from making my bed in the mornings, to pushing a little harder at the gym. Sort of like how breakfast is the most important meal of the day, for me my Mondays are crucial. They set the tone for the week, so if I slack on Mondays, there is a really good chance I’m going to lose motivation throughout the rest of the week.

I think some of this stems from my college years. My roommates and I started “fancy Monday” our Junior year because we needed something to motivate us to get out of bed and face the week. We all got up early, took showers, and actually made a conscious effort to dress up a little on Monday mornings. Granted, sometimes fancy Monday just meant that we didn’t wear sweats to class, but most weeks it meant we all left the apartment looking rather dapper, often wearing pearls, and as a result we tricked ourselves into being highly motivated at the beginning of the week. Being dressed up meant we weren’t likely to come home and nap in between classes. Hello world, we put in some effort, and are ready to face the some challenges. Of course, on occasion, fancy Monday had a few mishaps… one in particular resulted in me falling down the stairs in front of a full lecture hall because the heel from my fancy high heel got stuck in one of my pant legs. I smashed my body into a trashcan, and then literally crawled to my seat in the front row… but damn it, at least I looked good while I was on the floor.

Another thing that I find particularly productive about Monday is the lack of people who are out and about. I can typically avoid lines at the grocery store, the gas station, or making returns, because everyone else has done these tasks over the weekend. In fact, I find that when I do have a “real” weekend, I get really frustrated by the abundance of people everywhere, and how long it takes me to do things. If at all possible I avoid going to the grocery store, the liquor store, or any other sort of big retail establishment on the weekend. Though indulging in retail therapy isn’t always as fun when you aren’t with your friends, I find my weekday shopping trips take half the time, and I’m much more likely to spend when I have enough time to browse without feeling overwhelmed by a crowd. Maybe this is just my “country girl at heart” mentality speaking, but crowds of people, and long lines just aren’t my thing!

Perhaps another reason why Mondays are so appealing to me is my nigh-owlish tendencies. Even after a weekend of work, I still stay up late on Sundays, and it is glorious not to have to get up and face the world at 6AM on Monday morning.

Sigh, I know it won’t be like this forever. Sooner or later (sooner if I get into graduate school) I know I’m going to have a job with a less erratic schedule… eventually I’ll be doing the Monday through Friday 9 to 5 thing, my weekends will be real weekends, and I’ll be grocery shopping on Sunday afternoon, and wishing all the “good” classes at the gym weren’t offered in the morning or mid-afternoon time spots. I won’t be able to slide into my week by pushing the snooze twelve times and leisurely enjoying two cups of coffee while I peruse facebook and make a grocery list.

Maybe the main reason why I love Mondays so much is that they are flexible. There are often things I should do, and things that I want to do, but there aren’t many things that I HAVE to do on Mondays. It’s my own pace, my own schedule, my own agenda. Just another malleable Monday.

little blooms of sanguinity

One of my most favorite things about the spring is its optimism. The second is ranunculus. Though I’m sure there are differing opinions out there, I find ranunculus to be one of the most spectacular flowers ever. It seems rather fitting that they are only available in the cool spring months, especially in Oregon when things are occasionally a little bleak this time of year… they are little blooms of sanguinity. Nothing will snap you out of a seasonal depression faster than the blooms of a ranunculus. It’s no secret that I have been in a post Christmas, post-application, seasonal funk for roughly the last two months… and though I know the arrival of ranunculus at the nursery this week are not the sole reason for my slightly more optimistic frame of mind they certainly help! 

 

 

As a full time event coordinator, and as a woman, I have devoted a fleeting thought or two to the planning of my wedding… and ranunculus have played a major role in that fantasy. The fact that they are a cool spring time flower of course greatly conflicts with the plan of having an outdoor summer soiree… but I try not to dwell on the logistics…lord knows I will not be getting married anytime in the near future. Maybe in the meantime, I will gift one to myself as a housewarming present. 

 

 

New Horizons: Two weeks without meat

So I’ve been a vegetarian for two weeks. I know I know, this is slightly shocking and maybe a little hypocritical months after assembling and promptly devouring a Turducken, but it’s been something I’ve been thinking about for a while. As a small disclaimer, I will say that this is a temporary lifestyle adjustment, which I know makes me even more hypocritical, but I feel like I have some valid reasons.

I have been rather restless lately, and have been feeling like my life was in desperate need of change, more accurately a change of my choosing. I can’t control if and where I get into graduate school, and I certainly had no control over my unexpected move, and I really felt like I needed to change something in my life, and change it for the better. It seemed like a great time too, as CBS had been running a news piece about the use of antibiotics in meat (which totally grossed me out!) Frankly, as a person who recently recovered from a gnarly staph infection, I was less than thrilled by the fact that animals are being pumped full of antibiotics, and developing resistant strains of MRSA. And so I gave up meat… at least until May 1st. Though I know I don’t need to justify my temporary journey into a meat free existence, I feel as though I need to at least explain. May 11th and 12th I am going to Fenway Park for the very first time, and I refuse to go on this monumental trip without eating a hot dog. It would be basically sacrilegious to go all that way, to live that experience, and to deny myself that indulgence. Who knows, maybe it will just be a week long hiatus from my vegetarian life style, or maybe those fenway dogs will be the gateway drug into summer meat consumption, who knows, but I suppose I will cross that bridge when I come to it. 

Let me just say, that I realize this isn’t a huge stretch for me. Minus the Turducken, I don’t actually cook a lot of meat for myself. I spent the first nine years of my life as a vegetarian, and as a result developed a liking towards all sorts of leafy greens, and fake meat products. I have quite a few friends who are either vegetarian or vegan, and we often cook meals or go out together, so really this has been an almost effortless transition. And I’ve already been on a lentil kick for the past two months, so making the final step into vegetarianism hasn’t been too hard Really the only time that I eat meat it when dining out, or snacking on an occasional slice of turkey, or when my mom makes something tantalizing like meatloaf. Even when I go to Burgerville nine times out of ten I end up ordering a spicy black bean burger, so saying goodbye to meat hasn’t been very difficult. (Though 2 days after I gave up meat my mom made meatloaf…. And last night a pot roast. Good lord they smelled delicious!) 

So I’ve been meat free for two weeks, and feeling great. Though I have had more energy, I’m not sure how much of that I can attribute to the veggie diet and how much I can attribute to the week of sunny weather we had here. What I have noticed is that after each meal, I feel really satiated without feeling grossly full. 

 

A scrumptious salad

I’ve actually really enjoyed trying new recipes, and figuring out what vitamins I need. Nutritional Yeast is my new favorite addition to just about anything! Hello B Vitamins! Plus it adds a certain je ne sais quoi, to things like salads and mashed potatoes. 

Of course now that I have an extensive deck, I’m already planning out my summer container gardens, and am dreaming about the salads and dishes that are going to be a delicious result. There is something undeniably satisfying about eating vegetables from your own garden! And yes, I’ve even been eating more tofu! It’s all about the marinating, and the seasoning. I found a recipe in Real Simple for Vegetarian Tacos, with corn, spinach crumbled tofu, salsa and goat cheese (I added black beans also) and they were fantastic! (but really for those of you tofu doubters, please do yourself a favor and order something at Thai Country with tofu, it will change your life and your outlook on this soy protein). Tonight I made pasta with leeks, peas, and lima beans. So Tasty.

So I'm armed with vegetarian cookbooks, creativity, and I’m optimistic that my stint as a vegetarian is going to be nothing but delicious.  Really, with cookbooks like "The New Enchanted Broccoli Forest" how can I go wrong?

Tonight's delicious dinner

When life gives you lemons

Let me introduce you to Liz Lemon, my dwarf Meyer lemon tree. She was a housewarming gift (from me to me, which lets face it, is often the best kind of housewarming gift) when I moved into my happy little apartment. Normally I wouldn’t splurge on an expensive plant (my history with orchids etc is not that great. Thought I certainly don’t have a brown thumb, I also have never been good with high maintenance plants) but we were having a 50% off sale at work, and I figured why not buy myself a lemon tree? Sadly, Liz isn’t doing so well these days, but our first few months together were great! I was such a happy camper coming home to a bright cheery citrus plant in my yellow kitchen.

Thankfully, one of the perks of my job is that I have access to plant gurus seven days a week, so I think I am going to take Liz Lemon to the greenhouse for a little TLC while I finish up the move. Not sure what happened when I was in DC, but she took a turn for the worse... Perk up little lemon tree! I had reservations about bringing her home at first, because I had a sneaking suspicion that I might not be a “lemon tree whisperer” and that something would inevitably go awry, but I figured at 50% off why not give it a try? Thankfully I’ve heard that they bounce back pretty well, and I’m hopeful that after a little fertilization and greenhouse resuscitation she will be ok.   It’s been fun to slice up fresh lemon to put in my water, and my absolute favorite thing around the holidays was making lemon infused vodka. Who knew that HRD could taste so good?

 Christmas Basket with Lemon Vodka

I also made some lemon curd, which was absolutely divine. (but really, eggs, lemon, sugar, butter, how could it be bad?) Look forward to many more culinary adventures with her assistance, lemon sorbet anyone?

 

 

 Making the Lemon Curd

Turducken! At Last!

I should be packing, so naturally I am occupying my time doing other things like composing handwritten letters, paying bills, and blogging. In my defense I have already packed twelve boxes tonight (yes most of them are wine boxes, and most of them are filled with books, but twelve boxes is twelve boxes).

On the bright side, I am feeling rather inspired to write, which is any case cannot be considered a bad thing, even if it is keeping me from doing something productive like packing up my life.

But I’ve been feeling rather guilty lately, because I have yet to blog about the Turducken adventure of 2009. I really meant to do it the week after I got home, and then, per usual, life just kept happening. Friends were in town, work got busy, I found other inspiration, and other distractions, and I didn’t have all the pictures, and so the Turducken got swept under the rug. Out of sight, but not out of mind for me, and so here I am a month later, finally ready to write about the poultry palooza that was my Christmas.

It all started out as kind of a joke. Turducken. I was giving my friend/ brother-in-law by marriage a bad time about batching it alone on Thanksgiving, and I told him that he should make a turducken. I mean it is sort of like the ultimate man meal, meat inside of meat, inside of meat. We both sort of laughed it off, but agreed that it sounded delicious. And then I got to thinking “how hard could it really be?”

I’m slightly appalled that I even came up with the idea of making a turducken. Though I am not a vegetarian, I don’t actually cook or even eat that much meat. I have several friends of the Vegetarian/vegan persuasion, and so when we all get together for dinner parties, meat it usually optional. BYOB, and BYOM. So there I was, the girl who is totally grossed out by raw chicken, and paranoid about contracting salmonella, contemplating making the ultimate poultry dish. This was much more than a raw chicken breast. Three whole birds, what the hell was I thinking?

As the days went on, I felt as though I was being taunted by the idea of turducken. Suddenly it was everywhere, on radio shows, the food network, references to turducken were everywhere from NPR to Top Chef, and I began to wonder if it was a sign that I should be paying attention to. So on a whim, I asked my sister-in-law how her family would feel if I made a turducken for Christmas dinner. I mean, it was already going to be a year of new traditions, as I was spending the holiday with my brother’s in-laws rather than my immediate family, so why not try something completely new? So I got the approval (though I am still sort of wondering if everyone thought I was kidding) and started researching recipes.

At first I was contemplating how long it was going to take to de-bone three birds. At some point it dawned on me, that I am extremely accident prone, and considering my luck in 2009, I decided that de-boning 3 birds was just a trip to the ER on Christmas morning waiting to happen. So though, it may be considered cheating, I simply asked the butcher to de-bone the birds for me. A little batting of the eyelashes, and I had myself a de-boned duck and chicken ready for me to pick up. There was no going back, the birds were ordered, and we were committed to making this “Cluster-Cluck.”

Flash forward to Christmas morning, 6:45 AM AKA Turducken time. I have never been a morning person, let alone a morning person who assembles poultry before coffee, but I was on Christmas. Nothing says Christmas like holiday PJ’s, reindeer antlers, and raw chicken. (clearly I was not thinking about having a blog worthy photo-op.) The process actually went a lot quicker than I thought it would, in mere moments the birds were cut, seasoned, stacked and ready for stitching. I’m not going to lie, I pretty much took a back seat on the assembly process. I scooped stuffing in between the layers, and watched the madness taking place, and was then the head seamstress when it was time put everything back together.

 

 

 

 

When we were done, I was shocked and amazed that it actually looked like a normal turkey! Against all odds, we didn’t manage to fuck it up, and considering the two masterminds behind the project, I think we were all a little amazed. As far as flavoring goes, we improvised a little. Butter, garlic, rosemary, beer, salt, pepper, other various spices. The trifecta of birds went in the oven at 7:45. Christmas continued as normal. Presents, cocktails , coffee, copious amounts of Rockband, and turducken anticipation. Waiting, hoping, praying that the turducken would actually get up to temp (at least 165, but preferably 180) in time for afternoon eating. It actually cooks at a fairly decent speed, I think mainly because most of the bones are removed. Of course you leave in the wings and drumsticks on the turkey to keep up appearances. We could have opted for the “log” version, where you basically make a roast out of the birds, but damn it, as my first turducken attempt I at least wanted it to be pretty. And it was!

 

 

Complete success! Though we had a few fuddy-duddy’s who claimed that they couldn’t really tell a difference between a turducken and normal turkey, a majority of us were thrilled with the taste, and overall experience. I’m not sure if it will be a new tradition in the Brisbin/Nooy family, but I think it will give us something to live up to each year.

It's all just a little bit of history repeating

This week had been the kind of week that makes me wish I knew how to juggle in real life. Maybe if my hand/eye coordination were a little bit better, I’d have the skills to balance out everything else, always keeping one flaming torch, or razor sharp knife, or more realistically a bean sack or piece of fruit in the air.  Let’s be honest, I might have some talents, but keeping things up in the air isn’t one of them… but I’m optimistic that even though I might not possess the coordination to literally juggle, that I can somehow keep all the different aspects of my life up in the air and off the floor. It might not be graceful and effortless, in fact, it might be downright spastic, but at least I’m trying.

Yes, I like to be busy, yes I like to procrastinate, and yes I work really well under pressure and deadlines. Just because all of the above are true, doesn’t necessarily mean that I was thrilled to get an eviction notice last week. As if I wasn’t questioning my karmic timing before… how is it that I am having to find an apartment, pack up and move all within the same timeline that I am coordinating two separate volunteer writing events, shifted job responsibilities, anxiously awaiting to hear anything from graduate schools, and going on vacation? All winter I have been looking forward to February. Four days of vacation with my best friends on the East Coast, Paper Gardens deadline, New work schedule, Getting my taxes done, these were all things I was planning for. And now throw in the scrambling that comes with a move, the excess meetings (for both work, and volunteer projects), attempting to keep some semblance of a social life, re-budgeting the next six months, the business is suddenly chaos. Don’t get me wrong, it’s the good sort of chaos (mostly) but keep in mind that I am writing this before I have even packed one box.

Four months ago when I first contemplated moving into this apartment, I was able to justify it because I knew my quality of life would be better. I was thinking ahead to February, and envisioning the stacks of Paper Gardens entries, and organized piles of grad school stuff, work projects, and the mountains of laundry that seem to accumulate with no notice, and I knew that even though the apartment was more expensive, it would be worth every penny. So moving was a hassle, but it was only next door, there was no maneuvering the stairs, no renting a truck, no real packing involved, just transferring my life next door. I was willing to undertake the hassle, because I figured I would be living here until I went to graduate school…knowing that even if that wasn’t this fall, I would be living in my dream apartment for another year. So I settled, and decorated, nested even, spread out. And now I’m getting ready to pack everything up, and change my address (before I hear from any of the programs I applied to) and make a move that may or may not be just a six month fix before I head off to the next great adventure. 

Of course I deal with all the stress of the unknown, by reaching out for something familiar and comfortable…. Which in my case is always a bad choice, because more or less that usually ends up being an ex-boyfriend. Why do I do this? I am a fairly sane person, I know in my head, it’s a bad idea, and that nothing good can come from it, and yet I have found myself on more than one occasion sitting next to an ex, watching Raiders of the Lost Ark, thinking about how a little cuddling etc. would make life so much more tolerable. Firstly, it should be a red flag that this has happened more than once (change the starring roles, and location, add or subtract a glass of wine, but literally the same situation down to the movie).

So there’s the cliché saying that history repeats itself. (It is also a sorta catchy song by the Propellerheads which will now be stuck in my head for days…) And in my case, this always seems to involve ex-loves and Indiana Jones… I don’t know how it happens. I didn’t actually realize my déjà vous moment until this week I found myself sitting on my couch, glass of wine in hand, and it’s the scene where they have just escaped the tomb with all the snakes, and they are trying to stop the Nazi’s from flying the Ark out of Egypt. There is the fight scene & Marion almost gets blown up, and it is probably actually the least romantic scene in the entire movie (maybe minus the face melting one). I don’t know what it is about this part of the movie, but it totally triggers something in me. Fight or flight kicks in. Maybe because it is like the point of no return in the movie, there isn’t a lot of film left, so if I move is to be made, it’s the now or never moment?

In theory, I love change, crave it, embrace it, and accept it. So why is it that when life gets a little bit chaotic and stressful, that I seem to run in the opposite direction. Reject the change, reject the new, and settle on the old and familiar? I guess it’s the same reason why we eat comfort food rather than trying new recipes, but still I wish I didn’t have this reflex. I take a situation that is already complicated, and in an effort to satiate the daily chaos, add a dose of awkwardness, and almost screw up a friendship in the process. I’m already juggling the moving, the work, the volunteering, the vacation, the grad school angst, and then add a dose of awkward to the mix. I mean, yes, I am looking for a distraction, but I should still know better… As if the juggling wasn’t already a little overwhelming… Thankfully at least one of us was thinking clearly.

Maybe next time my life gets chaotic I’ll at least recognize the pattern, and try to go on vacation before opening up a bottle of fine wine and putting Indiana Jones in the DVD player.