House Buying & Catching Up

Happy Monday!

I have been gone for wayyyyyy too long!

Let's have a life recap and catch up shall we?

I love when bloggers have virtual wine nights with their readers so here goes!

If we were having a glass of wine on the patio, I'd tell you that I'm starting school again.  I'm going back to school for my Principal Cert.  It will take me about a year and a half, if all goes right and I don't have to press pause.  I'd tell you that I'm excited but a little overwhelmed.  It is a lot of work and my schedule is already pretty packed.

If we were having a glass of vino, I'd tell you that Bill and I are looking at houses.  It's going well, but it's an overwhelming process that is full of nervous energy, excitement, and money.  Thank God we agree on most house things like layout, price range, styles, etc.  It's such an exciting time and I can't wait to see what will happen over these next few months.  I feel like we are on a forever loop of House Hunters.  Has anyone else seen the SNL House Hunters sketch with the Man Cave?  We watch that when we need comic relief.

If we were sipping, I'd tell you that Bill and I are headed to San Fran next month.  His work trip and my school's spring break are overlapping and we're taking full advantage!  If you think I'm not going to run through the park across from the Full House House singing Everywhere you look, everywhere is a heart is a heart, of somebody who loves you! on repeat, then you are wrong.  I am also excited for the sourdough bread.

Now we'd be half way through our glasses and I'd offer you an apple with peanut butter because I've given up sweets for Lent.  I'd also confess that I am failing at Lent completely this year.  I'd also tell you I'm going to try harder this week.  Hey, like I said, house buying is stressful and sometimes you need an ice cream break to catch up and regroup.

I'd also tell you that I'm cheering for the Tar Heels to win March Madness.  I'm also currently in last place in the bracket at my school.

I'd ask you for advice on home buying because we are novices and sometimes feel like this is the most frustrating thing in the world.  We know what we want and where we want it, but currently all the houses we like have humans living in them who are not willing to sell them.  Rude, huh?

I'd also let you know that I'm 2 weeks out from the Cherry Tree 10 miler in DC.  I'm pretty excited to run that!  I've never run in DC and I like city runs the best.

At this point, our glasses would be empty and the sun would be setting.  The stars would be coming out and it would be dipping into the high 40s.  Too cold to sit outside and enjoy our vino.  I'm giving you all a virtual hug and I hope you've enjoyed this little catch up!

If you have any house buying tips...send them our way!


xoxo,

e

To Detox or Not To Detox

Happy Tuesday!

I hope everyone is having a great day.  I'm loving the humidity break we've had the past two days.  It certainly is still crazy hot in NJ, but the humidity isn't where it has been which is luverly.

Today's post is kind of an all over post.

When I was on the cruise, I attended a healthy living seminar on metabolism and how to speed it up.  The trainer giving the talk was talking about detoxing to expel excessive gunk in your intestines.  Obviously, he was trying to sell a product and a body analysis service to us, but it got me thinking.  I didn't buy the "Magic Pills" he was selling because I'm not named Jack and I don't have a cow to sell, but I started thinking, okay, maybe I can do a version of a detox and make it work for me.

I've never been one to buy into the gimmicky magic pill, magic juice, magic diet trend.  I believe that while they do make you lose weight, you eventually put it all on plus some.  Plus, these are not healthy and very often contain some really scare ingredients.  I decided to do some of my own research and I enlisted my trainer to help me.  Together we found that the best detoxes are ones that involve turning around your eating habits and focusing on whole foods.  The body is a very impressive machine and can usually fix itself in terms of digestion and detoxing/cleansing.

Here's my plan:

Week 1:  Give up alcohol

Week 2:  Give up dairy

Week 3:  Give up processed/refined sugar

Week 4:  Give up wheat/breads

Every week I give up one thing that is not a whole food.  When I try to give up "all junk" it's hard for me because A) It's not specific B) It's too drastic.  I have to wean myself off or I'll binge, feel guilty, and get discouraged.

This week I gave up alcohol and it hasn't been bad at all.  After last week's cruise, I can fully say that I feel better with less sugar and processed junk clogging up my body.

I decided to start this now because I have 4 races as of now in the next few months and need to get race ready.  I think cleaning up my eats will be the perfect way to help me PR.

Have you ever detoxed before?  What do you like to do?


Today is going to be another busy one.  I'm going into my classroom to *hopefully* make more headway in organizing and setting up for the year.  Yesterday I did 4.5 hours and pretty much have nothing to show for it.  I have a bunch of half completed projects and border up.  That's all.  Returning to work is kind of like returning to college.  The whole first day you pretty much do nothing but catch up with colleagues and chat.  I love talking to everyone so I'm never too sad when someone comes in while I'm working because I welcome the distraction.  Productivity level=Michael Scott.

Tonight after the gym, I'm taking my friend Aly to try my beloved Maple Shade Custard Stand!  She's never been and I keep raving about it.  Hopefully she'll love it!  Have you ever hyped something so much that when the person has it, they are like, 'well, it's good, but...it's not as good as you make it seem.'  Womp.  Womp.  **But I think she'll LOVE it like me!**

I hope everyone has a great Tuesday!  I'm working on the cruise recap and hopefully it will be up tomorrow!

-e

The Best Salad You Will Ever Eat and Labor Day Festivities

Happy Labor Day!

Let's take a moment to thank our unions for establishing labor codes so we all can work in healthy, happy workplaces.


My Labor Day has been busy busy busy!  Tomorrow is my first day of school as a teacher (EEK--enter mini-freak out here) and I have been cutting out all of my behavior charts, signs, and parking lots.  I'll explain later (when the pictures are up).  I also packed my lunch for the week and got all of my clothes ready for tomorrow.  Anal much?  Absolutely!

I'm going to try my best to get into a good groove with work and the gym.  My plan is to pack my stuff and just leave it in the car and run there after work.

This weekend we had a family BBQ.  Deb made the best salad ever!  I'm going to share the recipe with you because I'm just that nice it's just that good.  It's a pear salad and it's amazing!

Here is the recipe::

-1 pear sliced up

-As many pine nuts as you want

-Greens (I used spinach and arugula)

-Sprinkling of goat cheese

Dressing::

equal parts honey, EVOO, and pear infused vinegar

Then, I chop up all the salad ingredients and munch until my little heart is content.

My lunch tomorrow is going to be superduper healthy because:

source

Breakfast:

Smoothie bowl with a mixture of:

-frozen strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries

-1 banana

-almond milk

And garnished with oats and cinnamon

Lunch will star::

-Pear Salad with corn (we had corn on the cob with our last summer BBQ)

-apple and almond butter

Snacks will feature:

Veggies and hummus-am snack

Baked Breakfast Cookie-pre gym snack

To all of my Teacher Friends I hope you have a fabulous first day of school!

xoxo,

Erin