One for every day

bloggin' time!

You guys, it's friday night and I'm feeling good and happy in this fab chair that my husband brought home while I was at work. I hate sitting upright in a desk, so I'm looking forward to posting more from this comfy spot soon!

And speaking of posting, this marks the end of January's NaBloPoMo... and I did it! This time last month I decided to kick off this blog by posting ever day in January. I'm proud of myself for sticking to this goal. Writing regularly, even if it's something silly, has been hugely helpful in getting myself out of my head and that is often swarming with worry and stress. Not all days are perfect, but I'm learning to recognize the good in each day, and plan for the adventures I want to have before I'm old.

Thanks for reading friends. Though I can now check off January's daily blogging goal, I definitely plan to be back here often.

Think happy today

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I have a feeling that today is just going to be one of those stay-positive-and-get-through-it days. 

Yesterday's post (and many before it) centered around centered around dreams for the not too distant future. While I believe that having defined and lofty goals is essential for finding happiness, that vivid and opposite picture of where I could be right now makes the things that I don't like about present life that much more apparent.

That is not a good thing.

For me and for you, remember to recognize the positive things about today, so that when you finally get to where you're going, you can look back with fondness instead of regret.

Your stuff is stopping you

Balian Beach house

You can probably tell from my previous posts that I'm particularly wanderlusty at the moment. I've dreamed of spending time away for years, and have never managed to sneak in much longer than two weeks away from home.

I get tend to get dreamy about travel when major life elements are in a state of unknown, as they are right now with my husband between jobs. I'm not terribly worried about making the mortgage payment - we've prepared for this - so he has the ability to be a little more selective about his next job.

Lately he's gotten a couple leads from places that would allow him to work remotely. It would likely be less that he could be making in a traditional office setting, but nothing to shake a stick at.

And in someplace like Thailand, or Bali, we could be pretty comfortable on just his income.

For years and years, the thought of running away to explore has always been at the front of my mind, but nothing that we'd ever actually do. We have a lot of "stuff" keeping us here - house, stuff in house, dogs, cats, animals, family that we help support.. but lately we've both been talking more seriously about what we can do to release ourself for this stuff. If we didn't have these tying us down, we'd be gone yesterday.

That beach house in the picture above was from one of my favorite stops in Bali - that hammock was the living room, the bathroom was off to the side and constructed out of old green beer bottles, and I slept in the room up top that I couldn't quite stand up straight in while the couple that I was traveling with stayed in the main bedroom below. The house sat in the middle of a rice field, and the beach was just a small stroll away. The guy that we rented the house from did his best to teach us how to surf. When we were hungry we'd walk to an outdoor warung and have breakfast or lunch or dinner and say hello to the owner's pet monkey. I don't think we spent more than $10 a person per day on the house and food. We only spent a few days in Balian, and it was the most rustic stop along the way, but it's probably one of the first places I'd re-visit if we do make a break for it.

Food is not a reward

Just 'cause Sam worked out doesn't mean he needs that pancake piece

Yesterday (second day using MyFitnessPal app):

"Oh sweet, I burned like 850 calories on my run. I'm gonna have some ice cream! Yeah!"

Today:

"Why is MyFitnessPal saying I burned 300 less calories on today's run even though I ran FASTER during the same amount of time?"

...

10 mph and 10 minute miles are not the same thing. Right.. fixing entry now and.. yes, yes, I should not have had the ice cream.

Lesson learned:

Don't use working out as an excuse to eat food that you know isn't good for you (even if you never overestimate the calories you burn while working out). I obviously need to overcome this food = reward mentality too. If I hadn't made that entry error, I would have just skipped the ice cream, which means that I didn't actually need it. 

No one ever needs ice cream. 

For the record, I hate calorie counting, but I do believe that what gets measured gets done. I try not to pay attention to the exact numbers, but I do log my food, exercise, and weight to keep motivated to make healthy choices and get to the gym. My 10 mph vs. 10 minute mile snafu was a great reminder of how not to use trackers to justify a different poor behavior to fill my imaginary poor behavior quota for the day. 

Next time I'm faced with a calorie deficit that just happens to equal a hot fudge sundae, I'm going to make a point to remember WHY I'm working out and tracking my progress and eating clean. The point is to be a super healthy person. The point is not to toe the line to unhealthy.

Choose to be happy Monday

via

My husband always says that you are the sum of the three people you spend the most time with.

For better or for worse.

Fortunately he's one of them. He might even be two-thirds of them, which isn't a bad thing.

This does remind me to spend more time with a couple of girlfriends - I could use a little more of their strengths in my life.

Sausage & Kale Soup

I just made this and had to share - it is so yummy, I could have eaten the whole whole pot myself.

Sausage & Kale Soup*
2 tablespoons of olive oil
4 carrots, peeled and chopped
4 stalks of celery, chopped
1 red onion, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, minced
4 cups of chicken stock
1 tablespoon of garlic powder
1 tablespoon of basic
1 tablespoon of oregano
1 teaspoon of rosemary
1 teaspoon of thyme
1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon of salt
A few healthy grinds on the pepper mill
A 13.5 oz can of coconut milk
2 cups of chopped kale
2 cups of italian sausage

*I eyeball all of my measurements- these don't need to be exact

Brown the italian sausage in a skillet and drain the fat. Heat the olive oil on medium in a large pot and add the carrots, red onion and celery. Saute for about 5 minutes, then add the garlic and saute for another couple minutes.

Add the chicken stock and that long list of spices, plus the can of coconut milk. Bring the concoction to a simmer and then lower the heat. Add the cooked sausage and kale, stir, then cover and simmer for about 15 minutes.

kale time

While you're waiting for the soup to finish cooking and before you clean up, break out your juicer and throw in some of that kale, a couple carrots, and celery, and toss in an apple and some ginger.

appetizer!

About the time you wrap up your healthy green juice, your soup should be ready for the bowl! Did I mention I loved this soup? Loved it. Husband too. That recipe will feed a family for a night or two folks like us for a couple of days.

As much as I enjoyed this dish, I'm thinking about ways I can lighten it up a bit. The coconut milk and sausage aren't exactly lean, so I may swap in turkey sausage and replace half the can of coconut milk with more chicken stock. And maybe even MORE kale!

I <3 kale. 

Home love

I think Seattle knows how much I've been wanting to run away abroad lately, and it's taunting me with beautiful sunny days like this in January. Life will keep me here a couple years longer at least, and my plan is to get as much quality time in with this place as possible. 

Don't worry, city, you'll always be my one, true love.