It’s been forevs, yo. I don’t feel like typing but I miss all of you so I made a vlog. Add to my goals for this year “Saying “like” and “um” less”. Also, I swore twice…which is good for an ENTIRE 17 minutes. Sawwey. If you can handle 17 minutes of me, enjoy that. If not, don’t.

Preview: What’s talked about in this video (in case you want to skip around or not watch) and links to what I reference:

• Every goal I’ve made or wish I’ve had has come true. It’s about setting your intention.
• Related post: Get What You Want by Knowing What You Want.
• Review of and comments on last year’s goals.
• Be more careful with money. Related post: Getting Organized.
• Get my dental work done.
• Continue weight training. (Some of many) related posts: Romanian Dead Lifts Bring All the Boys to the Yard and Weight Training: Abs and Back.
• Run a half marathon. (Some of many) related posts: I Don’t Know What the F I’m Doing, “I Think You Have Too Many Shoes”, and We’re All Mad Here.
• Continue cooking and eating more vegetarian meals. (Some of many) related posts: Contradictory Beliefs and Actions: My Omnivore Dilemma and Plant-Based Diets.
• Make more friends in Vermont.
• Improve on my snowboarding.
• Continue updating my blog.
• Create more of a community on my blog. Referenced Lindsay but her blog is now Running With Tongs, not Cook. Vegan. Lover, my bad! I also referenced Hannah Hawley.
• Continue reading and commenting on other blogs.
• My Goals for This Year
• Get a boyfriend that I like (for clarification, it starts at 6:46 haha) P.S. “Interested in” not “Interested by”. Bad grammar bothers me.
• Get a 40 hour/wk, 9-5 job. Post referenced about previously being a perfectionist: Wingin’ It.
• Move to a new apartment and live alone. Though I would also be okay with living with my old roommate, my roommate soul mate, for the rest of my life. But only her. The first thing she said to me was “Whatever the opposite of shy is, I’m that”. Instant best friend. Read more about her awesomeness here.
• Get a dog.
• Join a REAL gym and take fitness classes.
• Continue working on my fitness. References post: A Bad Run is Like Doing Drugs with No High.
• Do what I want! Run, cook, play…and whatever else I want!
• Practice mindfulness and living in the moment.
• I’m going to put a new January running mix soon! Three most recent running mixes: You Can Take the Girl Out of Kentucky but you Can’t Take Kentucky Out of The Girl (Workout Mix July 2011: Rap Edition),  Country Music is Crack and Taylor Swift Was My Gateway Drug: Workout Mix August 2011, and “Catch-Up” Workout Mix: September, October, November.
• Run to rap and you’ll feel like a BAMF.

Double click on my face if you want more of it (AKA it will open in YouTube and you can watch it full screen).

See ya soon with some YMCMB, baby!

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If you “like” Healthy Balance, Healthy Life on Facebook, and you’ve been on since last night, then you know that I got to sleep much later than usual last night. I posted this after midnight last night:

Though I usually get up around 6:45, I allowed myself to sleep until 8 because I wanted to give myself enough hours that I could function today and get lots of work done but not too much that I won’t be tired enough to go to bed at the usual time tonight and mess up my sleep schedule more.

One of the benefits of my internship that I’ve talked about before is that, every week, I get to learn new ways to increase wellness and functioning (see what I learned about balancing time management here). One of the ways to increase or maintain wellness and functioning is through good sleep habits. I have learned, and taught, several of these at my internship and then included them into my sleep hygiene. Here are some of the most important considerations to look out for, with links at the bottom of the post for more information from reputable sources. Happy sleeping and vibrant energy!

Do This and Sleep Mo Betta

Before Bedtime/Day Time

• Go to bed and get up around the same time every day. On days off or weekends, try not to sleep in any more than an hour after you usually get up. Your body will learn the routine and it will become easier and easier to get up when you need to. After some time, your body may also get you up before your alarm or earlier than expected on weekends!

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• Avoid napping! It’ll mess with your sleep schedule.
• If you consume caffeine (coffee, soda, chocolate, etc.), limit the quantity and drink it earlier in the day. The closer to bedtime you have it, the more likely it is that it will impact both the quality and quantity of your sleep.
• Limit your alcohol intake at, and after, dinner. Alcohol may make you drowsy and help you fall asleep faster but it impacts the quality of your sleep so that it isn’t as restorative. Everyone is different so you may be able to have a glass of wine or beer at dinner but be aware of, and look out for, the potential impact it has on your sleep. Do you sleep the same number of hours as usual but find yourself more tired than usual? Limit or forgo alcohol intake…or have it in the morning (kidding!)
• Exercise! But finish your exercise at least three hours before you’re planning on going to sleep.
• Designate your bed as a place for the three S’s ONLY: Sleep, sex, and sickness. Do not do work on your lap in bed, do not watch TV in bed, do not do X,Y, or Z that doesn’t start with “S” in bed!!
• Get the TV out of the bedroom. If you want to watch it, do so outside of the bedroom.
• Do something calming before bed. Sometimes I take a hot shower with candle light rather than the harsh overheads or have a cup of warm tea.

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Waking up/Morning Time

• Get out of bed the first time the alarm goes off – no snoozing! If you do this for two weeks at the most (you are likely to see results before then) , your body will become trained to just get up when the alarm goes off. You’ll feel less groggy and sleepy than if you keep snoozing and staying in bed and getting out of bed won’t seem so hard. Sometimes it helps to bargain with yourself that you can sit relaxed on the couch and cuddle with the dog for ten minutes if you get out of bed now. Anything to get you out of bed because every time you get out first thing you train your body. It gets easier, PROMISE.

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• If, like me, you feel cold in the morning no matter how warm it is outside (and especially in the winter when it really is freezing!) have warm clothes and slippers next to your bed so you can grab them and put them on before you get out. It’s so much easier for me to get up in the summer than in the winter because I’d rather stay in bed in the warm, comfy sheets. To make it easier, I have slippers, fleece pants, a fleece sweatshirt, and a fleece robe (if necessary) right next to my bed.
• Make getting up in the morning enjoyable. If the first thing you do in the morning is think about everything you have to do that day and rush to get ready for work, you’re not going to want to get up. Bed > A stressful beginning to the day. Have at least one thing you look forward to first thing in the morning. For me, it’s as easy as making myself coffee and sitting with it for a couple minutes. Sometimes, if I have time (which you’ll have more of if you’re not snoozing!), I’ll give myself 10 minutes to read a book or magazine while I have my coffee. I’ll set the timer on my phone to go off in 10 minutes so I can be completely in the moment of reading instead of continually checking the clock. If I have a lot of time, I’ll make a yummy breakfast that includes eggs and salsa! What’s enjoyable to you may be different than what’s enjoyable to me. Figure out what makes you tick and then give yourself 10 to 15 minutes of it in the morning!

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• Listen to energizing music. Nice Weather for Ducks by Lemon Jelly is my new favorite. It’s weird and refreshing, give it a couple minutes into the six minute song and you’ll already be feeling ready for the day! Snow (Hey Oh) by the Red Hot Chili Peppers is good, too.

These sleep hygiene tips are just suggestions. They have worked for me and may work for you. Everyone is different so while some people can a glass of wine three hours before bed and have no problems with their sleep quantity or quality, others need more boundaries, structure and routine. If you have trouble with your energy levels due to poor sleep quantity or quality, try some of these ideas!

I’m off to shower and tackle the day

Are you a “head hits the pillow and I’m soundly asleep until the next morning and then I feel energized” sleeper? Or are you like many people who either don’t sleep well or enough? What do you do in the morning, during the day, or before bed to increase or maintain good sleep habits and energy levels?

You May be Interested in:

Sleep Hygiene Test (10 questions to evaluate your general level of sleep hygiene) – Discovery Health

Sleep Hygiene: Helpful Hints to Help You Sleep – University of Maryland Medical Center Sleep Disorders Center

How to Sleep Better – WebMD Sleep Disorders Health Center

Forming Healthier Habits and Taking Care of Myself – Healthy Balance, Healthy Life

Financial Organization

Since having a New Years goal to be more careful with money, I have tried multiple ways to become more aware of what I spend my money on and how much I’m spending. I quickly realized that I’m not good at balancing a check book so I came up with a different method. I:

1. Create a (somewhat flexible) budget for different expenses each month (and plan it so you have a certain amount of monetary “cushion” in your checking and savings accounts at all times).

2. For the variable expenses (the expenses that change, unlike my rent and internet bills) like food and gas, I keep my receipts and sort them into a small, purse-friendly, organizer (it was marketed as a coupon organizer) with labels for each type of expense.

3. At the end of each week, I add up what I’ve spent so I know if I’ve gone over, under, or hit the budget right on the nose.

Though it may sound like creating a budget and assessing it every week is stressful and not fun, it’s actually really liberating because you’re aware of how much you have to spend on each type of thing and then you don’t feel guilty or stressed shopping. Awareness also makes you more likely to put your money were your priorities are, rather than blindly spending it willy-nilly. It’s also kind of fun to save money in one area, like food, because then I can either save it or I can use it on another type of expense, like a new flat iron for example (so excited I just invested in my first good straightener!).

My budget includes:

• Food (you can tell how much I value quality food by how I prioritize it in my budget! Good food > new clothes).
• Gas
• Extra (spending money)
• Other (these are receipts from working with kiddos that I get reimbursed for…or anything else it may need to be re-appropriated for in the future)
• Gifts (I include this in my budget if there are friends or family with birthdays or special occasions (yay ChrismaHanuKwannzikka!) that month)
• Deposits (for deposit receipts so I know how my balance is changing when I re-assess my budget from to week… and again I can either save this new money or I can give myself more budget money for a different expense).

Time Organization

Almost every hour of every day for the next two weeks is planned (with flexibility!)

Read more about balancing what you do with your time here. Even though I’m super busy for the next two weeks, I’m still planning time for self-care and fun, too!

I also organized my room, cleaned the animal cages, cleaned the bathroom, and finished the dishes, so I am just ready and rarin’ for the next two weeks!

Oh, AND, the babies got a bath, too! They are so fluffy and smell so good. I tried to get a good picture of Bear but he tends to get curious about the camera and try to explore it instead of posing for the picture.

You can see some of his fluffiness here, but the camera really doesn’t do it justice.

Randoms (My recent life, uncategorized)

• I threw together a quick dinner of an “egg pancake” with sautéed grape tomatoes and shredded Cabot cheese on top tonight. Quick, well-rounded meal, BAM.

• I forgot to mention that I saw this event of a collection of national archives relating to the government’s effect on the American diet when I was on the train and definitely want to go when I’m in Annapolis, Maryland visiting my mom for the holidays. Since that will be the last time I will see her until after my birthday (January 8th), I think I will ask if I can have a little birthday day with the family in Washington and include a trip to the National Archives building in Washington, D.C.

• One of my close friends, Laura, who is like a sister to me had her second baby boy when I was home visiting in Connecticut! Her sister, also my friend, and I were at our five year high school reunion when we got the call that she was in active labor. We left for the hospital, before coming back to the reunion, and I got to meet her new little nugget! Below is a picture of Holly (her sister and my friend), the baby, and me.

I’ve never seen a new newborn (though I did meet her first-born son when he was three days old) but this little guy was hours old when I met him. I was expecting him to look like a smushy alien. Not even kidding. Aren’t newborns usually ugly (though everyone obviously tells the parents otherwise)? Laura really produces beautiful little children. Her new little one is on the left below and her first-born is on the right. How absolutely gorgeous are they?

• Last, but not least, I received my mid semester evaluation from my field supervisor today and it gave me the confidence boost I need to get through the rest of the semester (and settle some of my “ahhh, how hard is it going to be to get a job after graduation in this economy?!?!?!” concerns).

I’m a proud, confident, organized, and exhausted girl tonight. Off to bed!

Do you do anything specifically to help yourself function during stressful times?

Something else I learned this year was that identifying and writing down goals or things actually gets me what I want. I’ve read and learned a lot about the law of positive attraction, basically that you attract into your life what you think about (more thoughts about it here). I was somewhat skeptical at first but, after seeing it work first-hand this year, I’m sold!…And I’m super excited to figure out and then get what I want this year . If the law of attraction is too “metaphysical” for you, read about these researchers who found that identifying your goals/wants ultimately makes you more likely to achieve/get them.

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In Amy Spencer’s book, Meeting Your Half-Orange, she talks about how preparing for a situation where what you want actually increases the likelihood you will experience that situation, and get what you want. She writes, “…Science shows that the more ‘prepared’ you are to experience chance encounters, the more likely it is that you will. This is based on a premise called ‘predictive encoding’, studied by psychologist Colleen Seifert, Ph.D., [she said] “predictive encoding is like mental rehearsal, preparing what you want to do in advance, so when a particular situation comes up, you’ll recognize it” (Spencer, 2010, p.157).

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In the paper, Opportunism in Memory: Preparing for Chance Encounters, Colleen Seifert and Andrea Patalano (2001)write “The predictive encoding model suggests pending goals are stored in memory as associations with environmental features. Optimally, these features are (1) predicted to be necessary for successful goal satisfaction; (2) derived by advance planning when deciding to postpone the goal; and (3) described so as to be readily identified in the environment (p.1). In other words, when you identify goals and the type of situations (and environments) in which they can be achieved, you are more likely to identify opportunities as such when they arise in the future, and then are therefore more likely to take advantage of them.

A CNN living article, How to Get Lucky in Love – and Other Parts of Life by Ben Sherwood, mentions research done by Richard Wiseman, Ph.D., a professor in England, who says that “Luck…is a way of thinking and behaving…Lucky people create, notice, and act upon the chance opportunities in their lives…being in the right place at the right time is actually all about being in the right state of mind” (Sherwood, 2009, p.4).

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Focusing on what you want in the future also puts your energy moving forward, rather than backward, and living in the past tends to hold us back from moving on.

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So spend the next month figuring out you want and then, on New Years Eve, write it down!

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What do you do to increase the likelihood you’ll reach your goals or get what you want?

I’m currently writing on the train. LOVE THIS. Trains > Planes. No stupid security which means I don’t need to separate all of my life into little bags and then wish I had eight arms to simultaneously separate my shoes, jacket, purse, clear plastic bag full of liquids, laptop, laptop case, kindle, and suitcase into their respective plastic bins, get randomly checked by security (I actually appreciate this because it actually FEELS random when they tell the little, innocent looking, blonde girl to step aside. So everyone is equally likely to be checked…or at least it feels like that…I know it’s not the case), and then quickly put my shoes and coat back on and everything zipped back into their cases and proper places before everyone else’s stuff comes down the conveyer belt. PHEW! Plus, the pressure change from flying hurts my ears and there are no outlets or Wi-Fi for my laptop.

BUT ON THE TRAIN THERE IS!

The picture on my desktop, my friends, is a heart made from fuzzy love. I’m so lucky these siblings are besties.

H’anyway, I’m on my way to Connecticut to see the rest of my friends and family. I’ll be having lunch with my Padre before seeing one of my many families (I’m adopted for real but I’ve also been adopted many times over by many families…AND I also know and am part of my biological family. Yay for love!) and two of my best friends from high school.

I’m going to my five year high school reunion tonight and I’m really looking forward to it. My high school was small (the surrounding towns have such a little number of people that two towns had the same high school…and it was still small) and I’m really looking forward to seeing my old acquaintances, etc. There are so many people I’ve talked to who don’t want to go, which is quite interesting to me. It seems that some people who didn’t have a good high school experience are still holding onto that. I definitely had unfavorable (understatement) experiences in high school, and there are people who may be at the reunion who aren’t my favorite, but I’ve moved on in my life. I’ll embrace the good and be cordial to the bad – tis life! Plus, even just five years later, I’m sure people have changed and grown up more (wishful thinking?).

I’m either going back to Vermont tomorrow or Sunday – I still haven’t decided whether or not I want to take the train back tomorrow so I can to get down to Sugarbush on Sunday since it opened yesterday or spend extra time in Connecticut with close friends and family I rarely get to see. Decisions decisions…

Quality Time

I’m sad to leave Maryland so soon. I had such a good time with my immediate and extended family. Thanksgiving at my aunt’s house yesterday was great.

• The food was amazing – everyone makes what they’re good at making (pumpkin pie, here!) and it all comes together to form a great meal. The best part is that there were a ton of amazing sides. This is very important for me since I don’t eat turkey (because I don’t like the taste – yuck!) My cousin made a bleu cheese and walnut mashed potato dish that was so good. I don’t usually like bleu cheese but the combination of flavors were right on (I’ll try to get the recipe from her). One of the desserts was a home made raw, vegan, chocolate torte. It was so rich and creamy, I couldn’t believe it!
• There were three dogs, including my new love, a rescued gentle giant named Barnaby.

• Charades was played. I love playing family games and charades is one of my favorites. There’s something about just hanging out that is so special – much more of a “quality time” than going out to bars with my friends is. My senior year of high school my friends and I had a ton of “charades parties”. I want to bring those back and replace nights out drinking with some quality hang out time.
• Best of all, though, I didn’t do any work. I busted my butt in the library on Monday and got nine pages of a paper done and then I left everything at home before leaving for Maryland. The problem with being a student is that “relaxation” time is never actually completely relaxing because you tend to feel guilty you aren’t doing homework. Since I can’t possibly do any work because I don’t have it with me, though, I don’t feel guilty and I’ve been able to do things like spend quality time with people and write on ze blog! Beautiful.

Did you/will you go to your high school reunion? Why or why not?

Do you get enough “quality time” with friends and family in your life? What are your favorite “QT” activities? In addition to charades, I like eating good food, watching TV together, walks, etc. I especially love doing something like reading or writing in the same room without feeling the need to talk. It’s weird but 1. that does feel like quality time and 2. the people I can do that with are among my closest circle.

Pretty ironic that, after writing my new “About” page where I talk about being tired of writing “I worked out” and “this is what I ate”, I’m about to do just that .

I’ve been waiting forEVER for it to snow in Vermont for the first time and checking the forecast everyday because 1. If it’s cold, it might as well snow and 2. I WANT TO SNOWBOARD SO BAD. I left Vermont on Tuesday and it snowed that very night. So I missed it but at least I have a wonderland to come back to.

It’s funny because Maryland is SO much warmer but people here are wearing more coats, gloves, and ear warmers than people are in Vermont! Oh, and yesterday, my mom had a fire going in her house while it was 70 degrees outside. It’s currently 56 degrees outside and I’m sitting next to the fire, again. When I ran the Camp Letts 5k Turkey Chase today (officially a tradition!), I showed up in stretchy capris and a long sleeved shirt. That was it. 90% of the rest of the people there were in thermal wear. I would be one of them too if I weren’t used to cooler weather now. When I did the 5k last year (previous to experiencing my first Vermont winter) I was wearing a long thermal shirt and Under Armour thermal pants…and Under Armour gloves. It’s all relative! This picture sums it up perfectly:

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By the way, that picture is from Pinterest. You should probably get an account if you’re a visual person. My boards are here, check it out!

So, anyway, my brother and I ran…and so did Old Bay Seasoning, Rita’s Italian Ice, a turkey, and a lion. My mom and her boyfriend stayed home because she wasn’t feeling well.

It felt a lot easier to run than it did last year which was surprising since I haven’t felt like I’ve been in tip top cardio shape. Something to be thankful for!

When I got back I threw tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, EVOO, balsamic, and salt and pepper together for a quick meal and topped it off with pumpkin pie my mom, her boyfriend, and I made yesterday. We make this pie ever year – it’s the best!

I’m off to my Aunt and Uncle’s for Thanksgiving. Can’t wait to see my extended family and enjoy a (turkey-less!…I may be the only person who doesn’t like turkey) wonderful thanksgiving meal!

Have a good one

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I could also call this “The White Panda…and Then Some” because there are so many mash ups in here.

It’s been so long since I posted a work out mix, which is ironic since I’ve been listening to some of the best exercise music the past couple of months. Hopefully this quality list of music makes up for my recent slacking (and a big thank you to Miss Holly, one of my besties, who introduced me to a lot of this!).

The album, Pandamonium, by The White Panda

40 tracks and 50.1 minutes of the most energetic mash up of pop songs. Listen to the entire album straight through – the tracks blend seamlessly into each other. It’s like having your own personal club DJ on your iPod! Go here to purchase the album for any price you choose!

Countdown by Beyonce

This one is great for interval runs. Go all out during the “countdown” and then recover at a slower pace during the other parts of the song.

Motivation by Kelly Rowland Feat. Lil Wayne

Basically, if Young Wheez is in it, I like it. This is a good warm up song.

Better With the Lights Off – New Boyz

I Like That – Static Revenger and Richard Vission Feat. Luciana

Line in the Sand – Zox

Stereo Hands – The White Panda (Mashup of Edward Maya and Wacka Flocka)

Ignite Cherie – The White Panda (Usher Mashup)

In the Dark Remix – Dev Feat. 50 Cent

This is the only song 50 cent has ever done that I like. No, I don’t want you to take me to the candy shop, “fitty”, you’re gross.

The Way You Move – Outkast

But I know ya’ll wanted that 808 can you feel that B-A-S-S, bass.

Fly By Night (R3K Remix) – Lil Wayne

Sleepykids – Passion Pit and MGMT Mashup

Mo Free Mo Fallin’ – The White Panda (Notorious B.I.G. and Tom Petty Mashup)

Siiiiiiiigh. Biggie Biggie Biggie can’t you see? Sometimes your words just hypnotize me.

Midnight Life – The White Panda (Kanyea and M83)

Strange Clouds – B.O.B. Feat. Lil Wayne

Smile Back – Mac Miller (WARNING: Exceptionally explicit)

Imma do my thing until the day the reaper come for me, you can keep on grillin’, Imma smile back.

Women Lie, Men Lie – Yo Gotti Feat. Lil Wayne

Women lie, men lie…numbers don’t lie.

And…going with the current blog theme of things I’m thankful for…

Snowboarding! I’m so grateful that I can (somehow) afford this sport. I just brought all my winter stuff and got it all together. Lincoln Peak at Sugarbush opens November 19th!

What have you been listening to that I need to know about?? 

I’ve always loved Halloween and always get into it. This was my first time celebrating in Burlington and I loved every minute of it (though I could have stood to get more than four hours max per night of sleep!). Here’s an overview of the festivities:

Halloween themed catnip toys for the boys. I was hoping catnip would have the same effect on them that it does on cats, but unfortunately, they didn’t go crazy. Polar did like hiding them, though!

I got the sweetest card from one of my best friends, Holly. It was a total surprise that came after a rough couple of weeks and was just what I needed to perk up again!

I spent a lot of time and energy on my costume this year. I repurposed some old shoes that were damaged by the cobblestone streets of Boston into, you guessed it LeashieLoo, Dorothy’s ruby red slippers.

If you want to try this, get some spray glue, glitter, and a plastic bag. Tape the inside of the shoes so glue doesn’t stick to it and then spray them down with glue. Put them into a bag filled with glitter and shake until completely covered. Unpeel the tape and, voila!, sparkle shoes. Don’t expect not to leave a trail of fabulous everywhere you go. Pretty sure my apartment will never be rid of red glitter!

The costume turned out well, I think! I went to three different stores before finding this version of Dorothy’s dress. The others were much tighter (can you believe this is a large?!), revealing, and tacky. One of them looked like the Bavarian version of Dorothy. It had a peasant top and corset. I think the only thing I was missing was white beer in a crystal mug…and Kansas. The other was super short and the entire thing had fake sequins on it. No, thank you! I thought this one was cute and I wore Under Armor running shorts underneath to prevent a “Britney Spears” incident.

This dress had red bows on the bottom and the top but I thought it was excessive (and it’s hard for me to think bows can be overdone), so I took the top bows off with a seam ripper and hot glued them to two barrettes to use in my hair.

I used a picnic basket that I got over the summer for a picnic date and improvised for some of the rest of my cast members:

Bear was my Toto (no I didn’t bring him to the bars!)

Oakley (Caitlin’s three year old chocolate lab, featured in posts such as this and this) was my Cowardly Lion (photo courtesy of his mommy).

and my friend Kara was the tin man. She made her entire costume herself! She duct taped a dress and made a clock heart out of felt and then an oil funnel hat out of cardboard and duct tape. How cute is she?

There are so many benefits of being Dorothy for Halloween. In addition to rocking glitter heels, I got to accessorize with a picnic basket. That doesn’t sound awesome? I didn’t think so either until I went out with it.

The benefits of a picnic basket:

• Something big to use to push your way through bar crowds and not get drinks spilled on you.
• Extra space for munchies (the yellow brick road is long, kids, pack some fuel! Specifically, greek yogurt and a banana).
• Extra space for leggings in case you get cold waiting in lines.
• A place to collect extra goodies received throughout the night (I came home with a whole bunch of glow sticks).

Forget the clutch, I’m bringing a picnic basket out from now on

I also made new friends! A girl felt compelled to tell me she’s from Kansas and, uh, so is Dorothy, so we should obviously be friends. I also met a garden gnome, a baseball player, two dodgeball players, Chewbacca, and more. Halloween is so fun The girl from Kansas’ friend wrote what’s below on the chalk board at one of the bars we were at.

Quite true. The around-freezing-temperatures-weather version of Dorothy would have been much more appealing for a Vermont Halloween than this costume was.

I love being silly and play around so Halloween is a perfect holiday for me! My number one favorite holiday is Valentine’s Day, though. I just LOVE love You don’ t need a significant other to love or be loved. Love your pet, your friends, your parents, your siblings, yourself…ANYONE, just love! (see how I spent my single Valentine’s Day in 2010)

What did you do for Halloween and what’s your favorite holiday?

Before I go into what I got from my wonderful Foodie Pen Pal this month, I’d like to quickly share some thoughts with you and my new decisions regarding the blog.

I decided at the end of August to set writing as a lower priority since I was becoming overwhelmed with all of the things I have to do during the school year. The semester has been pretty busy for me so far but now I have a bit of a lull until December so I’m going to try to take advantage of that. I haven’t written too much since August and I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that, given the nature of my internship, I’m kind of “burnt out” talking about health and wellness. I never thought I’d say that!

But I miss writing and I miss all of you, SO, until further notice, I’m going to be writing about little (or sometimes big) things that make me/people happy or smile…basically my blog will be about gratitude and things I’m thankful to have in my life. I think it’s a good thing for me to really be aware of how fortunate I am and to share it with all of you, and hear from all of you about what you appreciate/value…what makes life worth living?

I’ve also noticed that I forget to read other blogs when I’m not writing mine – because I tend to read them before or after I write. So forgive me for not reading and commenting lately!

SO on to the Foodie Pen Pals, which is something I really enjoy doing! (If you’re interested, click here for details!). If you’re on Twitter, you can also check out the list I created to see everyone’s posts today! If you’re not on there, add yourself! You can also just search the hashtag #FoodiePenPals 

This month my foodie pen pal was Ali at AliGirl Cooks. I LOVED everything that I got! Here’s what was in the package:

• An adorable card
• An equally cute mug (LOVE IT!) from Trader Joe’s
• TJ’s Pomegranate White Tea
• TJ’s Caramel Dark Chocolate Bar with Black Sea Salt on top (BEST packaged chocolate I’ve ever had!).
• Her foodie pen pal, Diana at Veggie Next Door, from September introduced her to the Yummy Earth organic lollipops. They are super yummy, natural, and three lollipops add up to only 70 calories. Win! They’re perfect for a little sweet pick-me-up.
• Ivin’s Famous Spiced Wafers (would be awesome crushed and used for a pie crust!)

I love the idea of sending something that relates to food but lasts forever (i.e. a mug). I’ll have to keep that in mind for my next foodie pen pal!

Also, check out what I gave to my foodie pen pals over at Fit2Flex this month!

I’m excited to write about something I have so much fun with every year tomorrow, Halloween! I celebrated last night but I will post tomorrow. Can you guess what I was from my craft project?

Talk to you tomorrow – so glad to be back! Now I’m going to catch up on some blog reading…including Sirenical, Peas and Crayons, and All Kinds of Hungry… hey girls!

10Ks are the hardest distance for me – it’s enough mileage that you have to work to keep going but not enough that you’ve got adrenaline going to help you. The half marathon I ran this summer was honestly easier for me than any 10K I’ve ever run! Due to the high elevation (800 vertical feet) and the lack of frequent water stops, this was the hardest race I ever ran (and I almost passed out). But I don’t want to get too ahead of myself – first thing’s first!

Hannah

I was so excited to meet Hannah. I didn’t have her phone number so I went to email her right after getting there and bumped into her as I pulled my phone out. I immediately went in for a hug and it wasn’t awkward at all. Hanging out with her felt completely natural – blog friends really do translate well into real life! Marlaina, Hannah, and I had some fun playing around in the garden across the street from the lodge before walking over to the start.

Hannah and me

Marlaina and me

Half of those pictures of Marlaina and myself are us making fun of ourselves. Look how cute she poses!

Before the race officially started, we got a cool view of the clouds and mountains across the street.

Then I waited at the start wearing the race shirt I made featuring the motivational speaker, Lil Wayne. “Every finish line is the beginning of a new race” is a lyric from one of his songs.

The trail was lush with beautiful views but it was wet, slippery, and steep and the air was humid. At many points, it didn’t even seem like clear cut trail – it seemed like I was just running in the middle of the woods and I frequently had to look down to avoid holes and roots. At one point we had to run down a huge mud slide, too!

I was ill prepared and kicking myself for not listening to my own race tips, like “scope out the course before training if possible” and “Check the race map out for hydration stations before you start and have a hydration plan”. I would have liked to be more mentally prepared for the steepness of the trail – I was running a trail I would be winded hiking, and I really should have checked the race map because then I would have known there was only one water station (very rare – there have been two water stations, one every two miles, at every previous 10K I’ve run) at the third mile. Had I known, I would have brought my Camelbak so I could hydrate the entire time. I literally almost passed out and was going in and out of consciousness due to dehydration. After the water station, I perked right back up!

I am proud of myself for listening to another one of my race tips, “Listen to your body”, though. I walked a good mile and a half before getting to the water station because I was so light headed that I knew I would pass out if I pushed myself. I was texting my friend Austin (the music I listen to while running is on my phone), who came to support, that I might faint so I would have someone at the bottom who knew I might be in trouble. There were times during that mile and a half that I wanted to “suck it up” and push myself but I knew that would only hurt me. So I walked because taking care of myself is more important than a race time.

You can imagine how happy I was when I was almost at the finish!

Even though I almost had a minor medical emergency, I really enjoyed this race and want to train for and run it again next year.

…But with a Camelbak

It was hard but I got an extremely rigorous 6 mile workout and Marlaina won a raffle — all was not lost!

Only a few more days or weeks until I’m going to have to get reacquainted with a treadmill again – it’s been super cold many days in Vermont recently!

Check out Hannah’s post on the same race for a different perspective and a peek at what we did afterwards!

What is the most important race day lesson you’ve learned?