TGIF

The first full week of 2016 has gone by in the blink of an eye. Here's a TGIF-style recap of my week.

The high of my week was getting the new tenant in the condo I own all settled in with no issues. I didn't talk about this in December, but the tenant I had for 4.5 years moved out at the end of December. I ended up hiring the property manager that manages the unit that I currently rent as I don't feel I have the time and energy to be a landlord these days. She was able to find someone to move in within days of my tenant departing. I am relieved that she found someone that is likely to be a great tenant based on her application/credit score/etc. Fingers crossed that a year from now the value will have increased enough so that I can sell it and close the chapter on owning this condo!

The low of my week was coming down with a bad head cold. I felt crummy for the majority of the week.

A book I am reading is A Pig in Provence. It's a food memoir so it counts towards the read harder challenge and it's a book I own on my nook so it's helping me reach my goal of reading all the books on my nook!

A recipe I made was a corn and jalapeno frittata that I made for Phil and I. I thought I had shared the recipe on my blog at some point but I can't find the post. It's a weight watcher's recipe so it's low calorie but very tasty! I added turkey kielbasa to it to bump up the protein. Sorry, I have no picture to share.

For my workouts, I ran and went to a power yoga class on Monday, rested Tuesday and Wednesday thanks to my cold, ran on Thursday, and went to a power yoga class this morning. I usually like to go to yoga sculpt on Friday mornings but I think a 98 degree room + high intensity workout would not be good since I'm still recovering from my cold. Tomorrow I will run with my club and on Sunday I'm hoping to feel well enough to go to yoga sculpt.

The best money I spent was on cold medicine.  Thrilling, I know. I'm mostly excited that I really did not spend much money this week as I am trying to do a bit of a spending fast since November and December were such expensive months with holiday shopping and travel expenses and such.

My plans this weekend include getting together with another couple tonight to play cards, running with my club tomorrow, a date night with Phil tomorrow night (we are going to a new-to-us place we've been wanting to check out), and and then yoga and video chats with Nora and Alli on Sunday.  I feel like I have the *right* amount of plans for the weekend and am really striving to keep making the right amount of plans going forward so I can avoid feeling overwhelmed like I did in the fall!

What was the high of your week?  Have you made any new recipes recently?

Podcasts, Books, Miles and Looks of December

Greetings and Happy Wednesday!  We are already 6 days into the New Year and I'm just getting around to sharing my monthly recap. As you might have noticed, I made a slight change to my recap as instead of sharing a song I am loving, I'll be sharing the best or most intriguing podcast I listened to during the prior month.  I've been struggling to come up with new songs to share every since I starting listening to became obsessed with podcasts so it makes sense to make this shift.

Podcasts:

Freakonomics:  Is Migration a Basic Human Right - This podcast about immigration was the most interesting and thought provoking podcast I listened to last month. It covers many aspects of the topic of immigration with a special focus on the economic impact of immigration on the countries the immigrant is leaving and migrating to. It's definitely worth a listen!


Books:

Wow, this was my lowest reading month of the year BY FAR.  I only managed to read 2 books!  It was a very busy month, though, with lots of social obligations and shopping and wrapping and fa-la-la'ing. And then towards the end of the month I started a 771 page book...  so yah.  Not a big reading month for me but that's ok.


Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown - 3 stars
Inside the O'Briens by Lisa Genova - 4 stars

Miles:

My mileage was also really low this month as I only ran 30 miles. That's pretty pitiful but I am trying to give my body a bit of a break before marathon training starts in February. My total running mileage for the year was 924 which is pretty good.  Instead of focusing on logging miles in December, I did more strength training workouts (10), and went to 13 yoga classes, 7 of which were yoga sculpt classes (high intensity strength training + cardio). All in all I feel good about the month!


Looks:

The first look is from a friend's wedding we attended in early December. The lighting in the photo is pretty bad and it's not our best photo but it was my favorite dress that I wore this month (which I got at Banana Republic 2 years ago). I love that it has sleeves!

My second look is the dress I wore to Phil's work holiday party.  It's a pretty simple dress but again, I like that it has sleeves!  I got it Ann Taylor 2 years ago (yes, I do own a couple of non-BR items of clothing).

 

Try This at Home Tuesday: Roasted Vegetable Salad

Happy Tuesday!  I'm kicking off a new post series today called "Try This at Home Tuesday" which will have a healthy living focus, at least for the month of January. I once heard the quote, "ounces are lost in the gym, pounds are lost in the kitchen" and I wholeheartedly agree with this statement. I'm carrying around a little extra holiday/post-marathon (I tend to gain a bit after a race) weight so in January I will be focusing on cleaning up my eating. But sometimes healthy eating feels daunting because it requires a lot of research and effort in the kitchen so I think it's helpful when other share what they are doing. So hopefully those of you who are looking for ideas will be inspired to make something I share.

My focus in January will be salads to try at home. The salad I made for the first week of January is a copycat of a salad I have had a couple of times at a local salad place. It costs about $11 at this salad place so I was motivated to make it on my own. It is a winner because it has lots of different flavors and textures which is what I need in order to enjoy a salad as an entry.

The main feature of the salad is roasted vegetables. For mine, I roasted butternut squash, brussel sprouts, and beets. I roasted them at 400F. The squash and brussel sprouts were done in about 30 minutes, the beets took closer to 50-60 minutes.

Mmm, roasted beets are delicious and so easy to make!

The other star of the salad is the dressing, which is an apple cider vinaigrette.

The recipe yielded more than this but I had already portioned out some before taking this picture.

Every time I make a salad dressing, I ask myself why I ever buy salad dressings, which are loaded with preservatives. I had everything on hand that this recipe called for:

- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 T. Dijon mustard
- 1/4 c. apple cider vinegar
- 2 T. lemon juice
- 1-2 T. honey, as needed for sweetness (I used 1 T.)
- 1/3 c. extra-virgin olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste

The green base of my salad is a 50/50 mix of spinach and a spring greens mix, and other toppings include shredded rotisserie chicken, cooked wild rice, craisins, sunflower seeds, chopped celery, and blue cheese. I realize that is a lot of ingredients but I need a high ratio of toppings to greens to make a salad filling.
 

My salad for lunch, all portioned out. I find it works best to put the toppings at the bottom and the greens on top, and I keep the craisins, sunflower seeds, blue cheese and dressing separate and mix before eating.

In total, I would say that I spent about an hour of active time prepping this salad. The food I prepped will yield at least 5 servings so the time spent is well worth it in my opinion. You could cut back the active time by buying a butternut squash that was already cut up. Lastly, while I did not calculate the cost, I know that it is well below the $11/serving that I would have paid at the local salad place, so it's also economical!

Do you pack your lunch for work?  If so, what do you tend to bring?

2016 Goals

Happy New Year, everyone!!    I hope everyone had a safe and fun New Years celebration.  We had a quiet celebration with friends.  I thoroughly enjoyed having a 3 day weekend!  If only those happened more often!

Monday feels like the right kind of day of the week to share my goals for the year.  Here's what I'm hoping to accomplish in 2016!   This year I split them up into categories.

1.  Health and Fitness

> PR at the YWCA women's triathlon.  I did my first triathlon last year and didn't have a challenging goal going into it since I didn't know what to expect. Now that I have one under my belt, I am ready to try even harder and see how much I can improve my time.

> Run a sub-4 hour marathon at Grandma's marathon.  Yes, this means I am doing another marathon. Going into the Twin Cities marathon, I really thought it would be my last, but my disappointment over not making my goal led me to register for Grandma's marathon, which is in June.  If I don't run a sub-4 there, I think I will just have to accept that it's not in the cards for me and move on, but I want one more shot!

2.  Personal growth

> Identify an organization to volunteer with and volunteer on a consistent basis.  I've done a good job of making financial contributions to charitable organizations, but this year I want to focus on also giving them my time. I think I have identified an organization to volunteer with as I am going to the Minnesota Literacy Council's volunteer information session later this month.  Through this organization, I could volunteer to work one-on-one with an adult or I could co-teach a class.  I clearly feel very passionate about reading and know how powerful the ability to read is, so hopefully this will be a good fit.

3.  Reading

> Finish all of the books on my nook.
Last year I treated myself to a new Kindle Paper White. I still had some books left on my Nook but I thought I'd get to them eventually.  Then I fell so in love with my Kindle that I didn't want to read things on my Nook.  But I don't want to waste the money I spent on those books so I am going to make a point to read them this year.  There are only 4 and I've already started to read the longest of the 4 (The Goldfinch).

> Read 12 physical books that I already own.
This was one of my goals last year and I am making it a goal again for this year as I still have many many many many unread books on my shelves!

> Complete the 2016 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge.
I had so much fun doing this challenge last year so I decided to do it again. I really like the categories they chose this year.  Many of the books I will read for this challenge are books that I already own or books I've been wanting to read for awhile.  I can't wait to get started!

4.  Mental health

> Have one "shouldless" day a month and blog about it.
Last month I talked about my desire to have more "shouldless" days so I decided to incorporate it into my goals for the year. My goal is to have one per month, usually on a Sunday, and then in order to hold myself accountable, I'll share what I did on my shouldless day on my blog.

So there you have it!  I love the excitement of having a new set of goals to work towards and am ready to attack this list with gusto!

Do you make goals or resolutions?  What would you like to achieve in 2016?

Year in Review: 2015 Goals

The anticipation of the crisp, fresh start of a new year has a goal-oriented gal like me practically salivating. As a lover of lists, I love setting goals (not resolutions - I'm not a resolutions person) for the new year. But I can't set my sights on what I want to accomplish in 2016 without reviewing my 2015 goals!  Here is how the year shaped up for me.

1.  Work on resolving my sleep issues.  DONE! Out of the goals I set for 2015, this was the most intimidating goal and I didn't make any progress toward it until July when I went off Ambien. I had taken Ambien every day for nearly 2 years so it was extremely difficult to adjust to a drug-free solution to my sleep issues. Luckily the cognitive behavioral therapy techniques that the sleep doctors recommended worked and I am now sleeping much better. I still have further progress to make but I'm proud of the fact that I am now off of Ambien.

2.  Tackle a list of purging/organizational projects. DONE! I focused on this goal during the cold, yucky winter months and completed projects such as purging my book shelves, organizing recipes, cleaning out my financial documents filing box, and cleaning and organizing my closet. I also moved in May which forced me to do yet another purge of my belongings. It felt great to lighten my load!

3.  Complete the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge. DONE! I had so much fun doing this challenge. It pushed me to read books I wouldn't have read if not for this challenge. Did I love every book I read for this challenge?  No (I'm looking at you, Sense and Sensibility). But I'm still glad I did it and look forward to participating in the 2016 challenge. 

4.  Read 12 books that I own. DONE! I still have MANY more unread books to read, but it was nice to read 12 books that I owned. As I finished each book, I either mailed it to someone that I thought might enjoy it or I donated it, thus continuing the book purge that I started at the beginning of the year when tackling my organizational projects.

5.  Employ a "Buy One Give One Away" approach to all book, clothing, and kitchen gadget purchases. DONE.  For the most part, I didn't exactly do this in tandem (i.e., I donated a bunch of books/clothes early in the year and gradually added back pieces throughout the year). I did achieve the goal in tandem when it came to my kitchen, though.

6.  Complete a sprint tri. DONE. I completed my first spring tri in August and had a great time doing it!  I look forward to doing more in the future! 

This post feels a little braggy since I achieved all of my goals, but many of them required a lot of work and dedication on my part. Also, for me, the trick to achieving my goals is setting the right number. I've learned that I can only really focus on 5-6 BIG goals. For some people, it works to set 5-6 goals/month, or possibly more, but that approach just doesn't work for me as I'd be setting myself up for failure or would feel overwhelmed/stressed out, especially since I am an "upholder" so when i set a goal, I'll do all I can to finish it.  I think the key to achieving your goals is knowing yourself well enough to know how to set yourself up for success - and that looks different for every person.

Next week I'll be sharing the goals I set for 2016!

Have a safe and happy new year, everyone!  Here's hoping that the year to come is a great one for one and all!

Year in Review: 12 Best Books of 2015

December is one of my favorite months of the year for many reasons - one of which is the plethora of "Best Of" lists that are floating around in the interwebs. I especially love the best books of the year lists as I'm always curious to see what made the cut for other readers.

As of the writing of this post, I've read  whopping 84 (!!!) books which is the most books I have likely ever read in a year, edging out my record of 79 books in 2013. I read a lot of really awesome books this year, but here are the 12 best books, in no particular order.  I'd confidently recommend all of these to other readers.

1. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah - Truth be told, I'm typically not a huge Kristin Hannah fan as some of the books I've read by her felt like the kind of chick lit that makes my skin crawl a bit (e.g., weak and/or helpless female characters). But after hearing others rave about this book, I decided to give Hannah another shot and I am so glad I did! This book falls under the category of WWII historical fiction but what I loved about it was that it mostly focused on the courageous women who did what they could to fight the Nazi's in ways both big and small.

2. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins - Everyone and their mom loved this book, and I loved it, too. It's a psychological thriller that will engage you from the get-go. Some have compared it to Gone Girl as it is a page turner that features an unreliable narrator but unlike Gone Girl, the author is not utilizing the unreliable narrator to manipulate the reader.

3. The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez - This book is a great book to read to gain an understanding of what it is like to come to the U.S. as an immigrant, and if there was ever a time to put yourself in the shoes of an immigrant, now is that time. In this book, we meet several different families that have immigrated to the U.S. from countries such as Mexico and Panama. The families come to the U.S. for varied reasons but the common thread among those reasons is to provide a better life for their families. Each chapter is told from the perspective of a different person but the book comes together seamlessly. It will make you think about how all the seemingly insignificant decisions we make every day form the path our lives will take.

4. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - This is another immigrant story as it about a Nigerian woman that immigrates to the U.S., spends about 13 years in the U.S., and then returns to Nigeria. It will make you think about race and our class system. It's a bit long and dense at times but worth the read.

5. The Engagements by J. Courtney Sullivan - Shifting to a lighter book, this novel tells the story of the woman behind the ubiquitous "A Diamond is Forever" campaign. Besides learning about the life of the woman that came up with that slogan, the book also follows 4 other stories which are interconnected. The stories are all about relationships, engagement rings, and the diamond industry.

6. The Story Hour by Thrity Umrigar - This is the 3rd book I have read by this author and I loved it just as much as the other two. In this book we meet Lakshmi. She has attempted to commit suicide so is working with a therapist named Maggie. The narration shifts between each character and the book is about the lives of both women as well as their patient/therapist relationship. Both characters have flaws and make poor choices but the author writes about them in a way that helps the reader to feel compassion for both women.

7. Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff - Of the books that made my best of list, this is definitely the most "high brow" as it firmly falls under the category of literary fiction. That said, it is excellently written so while the writing techniques went over my head at times, I still loved the book. It tells the story of a marriage and is broken into two parts: the first part is told from the husband's perspective and the second party is told from the wife's perspective. The book left me thinking about how what others observe when viewing relationships from the outside is only the tip of the ice berg. It also raises the question of - how well can you really know another person?

8. Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri - I typically am not a huge fan of short story collections, so the fact that this collection made my best of list speaks to how well it was written. Sometimes short stories feel inaccessible and I struggle to feel connected to the characters since they are somewhat brief but that was not the case with this book. For the most part, the stories all made me feel something and I was sad to see each one come to an end.  The writing was so very beautiful - it's likely a book I will re-read down the road.

9. The Martian by Andy Weir - This is a book that I likely would not have read if not for the Read Harder challenge as the cover and topic (space) wouldn't have appealed to me, but I ended up loving it! The voice of the main character is hilarious and the book was so engaging. I also saw the movie and it was probably one of the best book adaptations I've seen!

10. Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg - This book made the long list for several awards, so I decided to check it out and am so glad I did. This novel manages to be both a quiet story and a story that takes the reader by storm due to the heavy subject matter (the tragic and sudden loss of a woman's daughter, soon-to-be son-in-law, boyfriend and ex-husband on the eve of her daughter's wedding). The story is told from multiple points at view and at times it is hard to keep the cast of characters straight, but it somehow works - really well. I was really sad when the book came to an end as I wanted to hear more of the story and how the characters carried on, which is the mark of a good book in my opinion. In some ways, the feel of this book reminded me of the book "Every Last One" by Anna Quindlen, so if you enjoyed that book you should check this one out.

11. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart - I read this book in one sitting during a read-a-thon in January. It's one of those books that has become a "Swiss army " recommendation as it's a book that I feel confident recommending to anyone regardless of their reading preferences. It's a gripping page turner with an ending that was stunning for me. It's classified as young adult but don't let that classification turn you away as I think a person of any age will enjoy this.

12.  Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng - This was a great book that grabbed me right from the beginning. It's about a family dealing with the mysterious death of their daughter. The author shows us the aftermath of her death as well as the days, months, and years leading up to the time of her death. It addresses topics like racism, the sacrifices parents make and the weight of expectations of parents. I felt a sense of dread while reading the book and it's one I have continued to think about. It's a great book club book as there are so many topics and issues to discuss.

I can tell that I really focused on reading more diverse books in 2015, thanks to the Read Harder Challenge, as my best of list features a lot of women writers with diverse backgrounds/countries if origin.

What were some of the best books you read this year?  What are you currently reading?  I'm reading and really enjoying The Goldfinch!

Christmas Highlights!

I hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend!  Ours couldn't have been better as Phil and I got to spend Christmas together and got to see both of our families. Here are some of the highlights!


- First and foremost, spending the holiday with this guy!

- Meeting some of Phil's extended family on Christmas Eve.  I had met all of his immediate family but it was fun to meet his aunt and cousins.  Everyone was so welcoming.

-  Eating lots of delicious food!  From tacos on Christmas Eve to a traditional Christmas meal of turkey and mashed potatoes on Christmas Day to soups made with leftover turkey and ham, and lots of food and treats in between. We definitely ate well throughout the holiday weekend!

- Hearing Phil's mom say how nice it was to have another woman in the house for Christmas.  She only has sons so she really enjoyed shopping for me and also appreciated having some extra help in the kitchen.

- Watching Oscar enjoy her first Christmas. There was a lot of excitement for her between a banana filled with catnip, the laser pointer Phil's brother got her, and all the bows and wrapping paper and such. 

She loved the catnip-filled banana!

After she came down from her catnip high, she snuggled up in front of the fireplace and watched us open gifts.

- Getting to see my parents, my grandma, 3 of my siblings and their spouses, and one niece and four nephews.  I barely took any pictures but I did capture a selfie with my nephew Charlie on Christmas night.

- Going for a run with my sister, Abby.  It was snowy and pretty slippery out there but it was fun to fit a run in!

- Being spoiled with lots of great gifts from our parents.  They were so very (overly) generous!

My parents know Phil well!

What were some of the highlights of your holiday weekend?