Meatless Monday (on Tuesday)

January 31, 2012 By 1 Comment

With the exception of two isolated instances, I haven’t had meat in about two weeks. Please don’t mistake that for only noshing on celery sticks and hummus. I’ve eaten pizza, quesadillas and many other unhealthy items. I’m not that strong. But in general it is helping me (and Mike) explore a world beyond chicken breasts.

Speaking of Mike, he has been a really good sport about this 99% meatless thing. On Monday he even took over the kitchen and prepared dinner so that I could make it to yoga after work and still eat before 9 p.m. The recipe? Quinoa Cakes courtesy of my favorite food blogger Running to the Kitchen.

As you can see from the oil and pan frying these aren’t the model of vegetarian health, but they sure hit the spot after a particularly tough yoga session and a work day that only allowed time for a small bowl of cereal for breakfast and salad for lunch.

We paired these little babies with green salads (topped with organic mini sweet peppers, tomatoes, cucumber and fresh blueberries) and small sweet potatoes. I could have easily had seconds and thirds.

If you are looking for new meatless recipes to try I highly suggest heading over to Running to the Kitchen to follow this recipe.

What Meatless Monday recipes are you loving these days?

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Blog Love ~ Jan. 29

January 29, 2012 By Leave a Comment

heartI wish I could live in half the blogs in my bookmark bar. I am in awe of how bloggers find time to discover beautiful things, but keep up their own site. Do they sleep? Luckily for all of us they must not, which means we get to enjoy prettiness like this.

What posts captured your heart this week?

Filed Under: Blog Love, Decor, Fashion Tagged With: , ,

We’ll Be Back!

January 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment

fake vegas signMike and I are off for a 27 hour stint in Las Vegas. Hopefully we win big! If not, I’ll be back.

Filed Under: Travel Tagged With: ,

An Unexpected ‘Miss Her’ Moment

January 25, 2012 By 2 Comments

If you read my blog with any regularity you know that I miss my grandma Lorraine, a lot. March 20th will be three  years since she left us following a somewhat brief but brave battle with lung cancer.

It’s mind blowing to think that much time has passed. My days returned to normal long ago…I guess that’s why they say life goes on.

But every so often, something unexpectedly slaps you across the face and the hurt and sadness comes rushing back. On Tuesday night it was in the form of a sentimental (but otherwise harmless) Honda commercial. From then on, any home decor or Wordless Wednesday blog post I tried to formulate  just seemed fake.

The actress’ hair isn’t much different from how my grandma wore hers. Straight, short and very simple.I also think my grandma may have owned those exact pants.

Commercial link: http://youtu.be/tEnp8D321kw

That’s all I got…

Filed Under: Family, Reflection Tagged With: , , , ,

Yoga with Style

January 24, 2012 By 1 Comment

Years ago I really disliked yoga. Just ask my dear friend Cindy McGee. She could not drag me to a class if she tried. I couldn’t turn my mind off and preferred a workout that left me panting and drenched.

Oh how things have changed.

Now I crave yoga — both the butt-kicking sculpt version and slower, traditional kind — and realize how much it helps me relieve stress. I still have a hard time turning my mind off completely but I’ve come a long way. I also notice a strength in my legs and arms that I have never had before, and that strength has had a notable impact (positive) on my skiing this year. My goal is to keep exploring this practice and maybe one day, treat myself to a true yoga retreat or multiday workshop of some kind.

But this post is not about preaching to you about the wonderful virtues of yoga. It’s way more vain than that. It is about all the cute gear I wish I was rocking to yoga classes each week.

Manduka eKO Mat

First, I need a new mat in the worst way. I bought mine in 2002 or 2003 when I thought I liked Bikram yoga (I did not). It is from Target and is so thin that I have to put a towel under my butt to protect my tailbone when we do floor work. Good mats aren’t cheap but this Manduka version has stellar reviews and I’ve heard great things about the brand. I love the acai color.

prAna Abi Top

I am a Lululemon fanatic but I also want to branch out and get a few more tops and pants that are from different stores. My friend and colleague Ramonna raves about prAna and I finally visited the Boulder, Colo. store a few weeks ago. They had so many things I wanted, but I really love this prAna top because of the design. Most of my workout tops are plain, but they don’t need to be!

Athleta Chaturanga™ Yoga Knicker

Athleta is one of those brands that I have never tried but am perpetually curious about. These yoga pants caught my eye because of the color and length–a great option for classes that tend to get hot, but don’t necessarily require shorts. I wonder if my calves would automatically look like the model’s if I buy them?

Lululemon No Limit Tank

No yoga fashion post would be complete without at least one Lululemon item to lust over. Overall I prefer my tops to be loose and my yoga pants tight, which is why I love this top. A fun peek at the built-in sports bra but still plenty of movement around the arms, tummy and sides.

I never understood buying nice gym clothes until recently, but they do make a difference for whatever reason!

What gym attire (or gear) do you splurge on for yourself?

Filed Under: Fashion Tagged With: , , ,

My Winter Secret

January 23, 2012 By 1 Comment

I don’t really like “powder days.”

Gasp! The horror!

It isn’t an easy thing to admit when you live in Colorado, ski nearly every weekend and complain about the snow when it is bad. But just hear me out for a second…

I have become a decent skier. Since we moved back to Colorado in January 2010 I have come a very long way in my ability on the mountain. I can keep up with Mike (and all of our ridiculously amazing skier/boarder friends) on groomers and some black diamond runs. I have a fair amount of confidence in my ability to get down almost anything (except bumps) which means I can finally spend most days with friends, rather than skiing alone. This year I have even received a few “wow, you’ve really improved” comments from people who skied with me in 2010 and 2011. Those are awesome.

But it all goes out the window on powder days. My confidence goes away completely and I feel like a beginning skier who has just strapped on skis for the first time. My normal speed terrifies me and I soon find myself shaking as I navigate the run. Combine powder with flat light and the day is all but ruined.

It’s all mental, and that is what is most annoying about this entire situation. I can actually ski just fine in powder if I stop whining and freaking myself out. In fact, on Sunday I went into the back bowls of Vail by myself (I insisted Mike leave me and go have fun with our friends) in some deep snow and accidentally ended up in the trees. Guess what? I SURVIVED. No limbs broken and no mid-run tears.

So there, I can admit it. I am a snow snob who complains about powder days. [Insert snarky remark - I deserve it] Practice makes perfect from what I keep hearing, so I’ll continue my personal quest to conquer this fear so that I can actually enjoy the fluffy white stuff when we can get it this season.

Filed Under: Colorado, Reflection Tagged With: , , ,

Blog Love ~ Jan. 22

January 22, 2012 By 1 Comment

gold hearts
Another week, another “that is so freaking cool” trip through bloggers-ville.

  • I want to live at Danielle’s (Breakfast at Toast) house, or fly her to Denver to come decorate ours. WOW!
  • Admiring Katie from The Neo-traditionalist and her super chic pixie cut. I am still almost in tears some days because of how short my hair is right now, so I totally love her confidence for being able to go that short.
  • Camille Styles’ Sea Glass color collage embodies the essence of fresh and beautiful.
  • Colorado’s mountains (our second home) are finally getting the snow they so desperately need, so Hip Hip Gin Gin’s Let it Snow fashion and accessories guide came at a great time. I am really needing the navy hooded cardigan.
  • The neon genius on Shoppings My Cardio is more than a week old, but I was a bit behind in my blog reading and literally gasped at how awesome these runway looks are. I would kill to be able to pull this look off, especially because it would be so unexpected based on my typical style.

Have a fabulous Sunday!

Filed Under: Blog Love, Decor, Fashion Tagged With: , , ,

Tray Trends

January 21, 2012 By 1 Comment

I have no idea where the “display a chic tray on your coffee table” trend came from, but I dig it. Now that our upstairs living room is beginning to take shape I am on the hunt for a great tray to bring coffee table to life.

Pottery Barn; West Elm; Restoration Hardware

Mike was sitting next to me as I found these beauties and chimed in to say, “see, that’s why you should buy me a table saw for my birthday. I can make you one of these.”

While I am not excited about the thought of buying him a saw for his 30th birthday in March (so boring!), I am intrigued about the possibility of finding all sorts of accessories on Pinterest and my favorite blogs and challenging him to recreate them in our garage. Pallet furniture anyone?

Are you smitten with the current “tray trends?” Have you incorporated a statement tray into your decor this year?

Filed Under: Decor Tagged With: , ,

Surviving the Week

January 19, 2012 By 1 Comment

Source: Pinterest

This week has been quite trying. I was going to ignore it with a fun fashion or home decor post, but I just couldn’t muster the creativity. Where to begin?

  • Mike is back in school, which means three very late nights each week. I get lonely and I am less motivated to cook or step away from the computer until I crawl into bed. That’s a bad habit. The bright side is that this is his last semester. He has maintained a 4.0 and I could not be a bigger cheerleader for him this last go ’round.
  • There are lots of exciting projects going on at work, which means there is a lot going on at work.
  • I am trying to hold myself to taking at least three workout classes a week for the second week in a row. Mike being in school and hectic days at the office are testing my resolve.
  • I am still on some sort of self-prescribed break from meat. I feel great but eating quickly and while on-the-go is not quite as easy. I also over shopped last week so we have a ton of produce in our fridge that we cannot eat fast enough. I am more sensitive than ever to wasting food (i.e. money) and feel badly that I can’t seem to plan for our consumption (or lack of) better.
  • We are spending every weekend in the mountains. I know that I deserve absolutely no sympathy for that, but it really does make me get behind in every single personal to-do that I have on an ever-growing list. That stresses me out a lot.

Every trying week is typically followed by many amazing ones, so I am not going to let it knock me over.

How do you power through the hard weeks to make way for the great ones?

Filed Under: Reflection Tagged With: , , ,

Education and Inspiration

January 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Blogging Research WordleVmac & Cheese is one of my favorite blogs. I “found” Victoria last year and look forward to her gorgeous posts each day. So I was thrilled on Monday night when, catching up on blogs from the long weekend, I discovered her awesome series of blogging tips that kicked off on Jan. 16.

Link to first post: Welcome to Mini-Alt Week!

All of the tips are great, and the overall layout of this series is even better. Take for instance the digital photography tips post. We bought a DSLR camera last summer and while I want to improve and get off the auto feature, books and lengthy posts about digital photography quickly have my eyes glazing over. I just don’t learn that way.

Whether you currently have a blog or have thought about starting one, I hope you’ll agree that this is a series you should not miss. Thanks Victoria for the inspiration and collaboration with so many amazing bloggers this week.

Filed Under: Blog Love Tagged With: , , ,
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