Catching Up & Learning to Be the One Left Behind

WOW its been a crazy couple of weeks. I’ve been MIA here and pretty much everywhere else socially for three big reasons.

1. Work = Insane

It’s a good thing I love my job! I get to travel, meet awesome people and work on really satisfying products. Sometimes I have to remind myself to find some balance because I will fall into just work work work. Over the last few months I’ve bounced around between Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Pittsburg and Louisville. Tonight I’m headed to NYC for 24 hours then to Atlanta on Saturday. Before the summer is over I will visit Chicago, Atlanta (again), San Fransisco, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Boston and probably a few more.

2. Les Mills = Obsessed

I recently attended Body Pump Module One Initial Training! My trainer was the talented and lovely LAQ and I am getting ready to tape and get this certification process done. I’ll do a whole post on initial training later on.

In between learning this new format with practices and team teaching, I also had to prep for launches! Unfortunately the release I trainined on for Pump and release I launched were not the same. Sooooo that meant learning three different releases (two pump, one combat) in a short amount of time. It didn’t take long before I was up to my eyeballs in chory, music, and counts. Perfectly legimate reason to have mush for brain for a few days!

I was lucky enough to launch both formats the same night with an awesome instructor. We filled the room with both Les Mills junkies like us and some new faces. It was so cool at the end to see every participant fighting through the hard tracks, taking the high options and smiling until the end. It makes all the chory cramming and going to sleep with music running in your head totally worth it.

I also managed to find time to be a Gold’s pace runner for the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler. With no training. Ouch… (totally worth it)

And most importantly…

3. Hubs = Love

For the second time, I had to put my husband on a plane to Afghanistan this week. He’ll only be gone about four months and he’ll be working off one of the bases, so I know he’ll be safe. Being apart that long is rough and I’m grateful I have a lot of things to keep me busy until he comes back. With no children (cat’s don’t count this time) it’s not as difficult as it could be for him to be gone. Still trying to adjust to him not being around, but I’ll be ok.

Plus! We figured out how to use iMessage on his iPad (he doesn’t have an iPhone) and I’ve gotten some texts from him along his journey. So far he has had internet access at a few spots, but I don’t know if he will at his final location.

Stay tuned for some posts on Les Mills training and some cookbook reviews!

 

Getting a “BQ”

Running is a big tent sport. You can be fast, slow, tall, short, young old, skinny or even fat and be a runner because that is what you call yourself. There is no official club, by laws, rules or standards.

• At what speed do you magically transform from fast walker to runner?

Frankly, if you think it’s running, then call it running. There is probably someone faster and likely someone slower. Don’t even bother with the term “jogging”. You are a runner if you want to be one.

• What special equipment do you need?

Your two feet. Shoes? Completely optional. Special clothing? Recommended if you are running more than a few miles, but totally your call. Expensive watches, fuel belts, GPS monitoring or GU needed? If you are an obnoxious type A like me, knock yourself out, but don’t sweat it.

• What about distance?

Anything from a few feet to an ultra marathon counts. You want to go run around the block and call it a run? Knock yourself out, you’re a runner.

• Races?

If they sound good to you, sign on up. If it’s your first and you finish, CONGRATS here’s you first PR! Don’t want to post on Facebook? Don’t. Although I guarantee you will have a friend that either doesn’t run or is slower and will be impressed. If they aren’t, they’re just jealous because you are AWESOME. For most people, a race is competing against yourself. Sure there are other people there and unless you are from Kenya a few will probably cross the finish line before you. Maybe even by a few hours but you didn’t really think you were going to beat them, right?

Runners are automatically awesome. Don’t you want to join the club now? Oh wait, no official club… but you’re still awesome.

Name another sport in which your performance doesn’t matter, just showing up and doing your best (or not quite your best, or maybe your worst, hey you were injured/tired/hung over!) gets you a medal at the finish line. Yep, NONE.

For some runners, the ultimate goal/wish/bucklist item is completing a marathon. Those runners are placed into the crazy section of the runners (non)club. Seriously, you have to be crazy to sign up, train for, attempt and (fingers crossed you don’t lose any toenails) finish a marathon. I should know, I’m a certified card carrying member of said crazy section.

And if you participate in aforementioned group, Boston or “BQ” means one thing. The Boston Marathon is the marathon of all marathons. It’s the standard by which all other marathons wish they could be and all marathoners strive for.  That’s because you can’t get to Boston without a “BQ”. A Boston Qualifier is a marathon time fast enough to be granted a bib to compete in the Boston marathon. Even with a BQ, you still may not get in because everyone wants to run Boston. If you tell me you don’t want a BQ, you are a liar. What you don’t want is to fail at achieving a BQ, but I bet you still want that BQ next to your race time.

So what are the BQ’s looking like these days? Completely and utterly insane. I look at this chart and cringe. If I don’t start getting faster (significantly faster), I’m set to hit a BQ when I’m 65. Maybe 70 if I can’t maintain my current marathon pace. Does that mean I’m working towards a BQ? No way man! I don’t have the time to devote to the speed work it’s gonna take to shave 90 MINUTES off my marathon time. But do I want a BQ? YOU BETCHA!

Why? Because I’ve run a marathon. I sweat, bled, cried and cheered through 26.2 miles. I learned that a marathon doesn’t start until mile 20 and that donut holes at mile 24 are like manna from heaven. Never in my life will donuts taste so wonderful or be so magical again. I discovered that you can train your body, fuel like a boss and that will mean NOTHING if you don’t have the mental fortitude to crawl across that finish line if you have to. Seriously, everything hurt so bad I was entertaining the idea to start walking on my hands. I can’t even do a handstand.

Even though my hips, knees and feet ached, I was not going to be stopped. Did I have a target time in mind? Sure. Did I hit it? Nope, it wasn’t realistic. But that didn’t matter because I was going to finish. When I hit mile 26 with the finish line in sight, something in me broke. I didn’t have it in me to sprint across, but the last two tenths of a mile were pure bliss. The euphoria I experienced was life changing. My body carried me a ridiculous distance and I was in complete awe. I did it.

Watching the news yesterday was devastating. From now on, “Boston” will have a second meaning for runners. When we talk about Boston, it will always hold a heaviness. But Boston will always be the standard we hold ourselves to. The secret goal we all want.

We run for Boston.

A Paleo Easter

Hubs and I had our first holiday home in I don’t even know how long. I decided this was the perfect opportunity to invite another couple over and have my first Paleo holiday!

Two dear friends of our and their 18 month old munchkin came over for Easter dinner. Neither of them are Paleo, but they are so easy going I know they would roll with whatever we cooked up. They offered to bring something so I suggested a salad and a side dish. Surprisingly, they ended up fitting nicely with our Paleo (semi-Primal) theme!

My work travel schedule and gym commitments left me spread pretty thin over the weekend, so I forced myself to go the easy route and not try anything overly complicated and time consuming. We were all very pleased with the results! Menu below…

First Course

• Field Greens salad with apple, avocado, dried cherries, blue cheese, sunflower seeds and a mandarin dressing (SOOO GOOD!)
• Bacon wrapped dates stuffed with blue cheese

Main Course

• Roasted Lemon & Rosemary Chicken (my recipe, below!)
• Avocado Cream Eggs (can’t wait for Gather to arrive!)
• Rainy Day Biscuits (recipe made 8)

Dessert

• Blueberry Upside Down Cake

Roasted Lemon & Rosemary Chicken

I think everyone needs a failsafe roasted chicken recipe. I don’t measure anything when I make this, so its a little different everytime. Just eyeball it.

• Organic whole chicken (I try and buy free range)
• dried rosemary
• lemon pepper seasoning (Trader Joe’s has a great grinder)
• Himilayan sea salt
• garlic (either puree or chopped cloves)
• grass fed butter, room temp (2-4TBS)
• white wine (1/2C)
• lemon juice and/or lemon slices

1. Prep chicken by removing gizzards and neck if still attached. Give to cats so they leave you alone while you cook.
2. Place chicken in bowl and rub butter over skin. Then either rub garlic puree on skin as well or place cloves and lemon under skin and in cavity.
3. Pour wine and lemon juice (if not using lemons) over bird.
4. Add seasonings to bird, make sure it gets just about everywhere.
5. Cover with plastic wrap and stick in fridge 4 hours minimum (I typically do overnight)
6. Preheat oven to 375. Take bird out of fridge.
7. Cook uncovered in a roasting pan for 60 minutes. This is not exact, but if you have a thermometer, make sure it hits 165.
8. Carve and enjoy! I also save the carcass for bone broth. Just toss it in a ziplock and into the freezer it goes until you need it.

What My Paleo Looks Like

After this week’s introductory post on what brought me to Paleo, I wanted to illustrate what Paleo means to me specifically. This lifestyle has detractors like any other, but it has even more diversity about what it actually means.

Paleo Has a Big Tent

The more I’ve researched and learned about this lifestyle (and I would argue, movement) the more varying opinions I’ve found. What’s great is for every different idea that is presented or set as “truth” there seems to be a lot of openness to let you interpret for yourself. Sure, not everyone will agree with me on that, but that’s ok.

Here’s My Paleo

1. No grains: I’m obviously GF (and you can read about that here) but there are grains that don’t always cause me problems. Rice and Rolled Oats are consumed occasionally. So this falls into the 80/20.
2. No Dairy: I’m pretty sure that dairy from cows triggers extra mucous for me (yes, yuck). But CHEESE! This is the hardest for me. I’ve swapped to whole milk if I need something for my coffee and I’m not home (use almond milk home/work) and limit my cheese to 1-2x/week. I also regularly consume Greek yogurt, which doesn’t bug me like milk/cheese due to the fermentation. Although this recipe may change that. This technically makes me “Primal” instead of Paleo. I would like to move into consuming only Raw dairy, but that is not going to be easy.
3. No Legumes: I’m never been big on beans, but I love making chili. Thankfully, my hubs HATES beans with some serious passion so I learned to make chili without it. Then BOOM. Found out I LOVE chili without the beans! Totally out of my diet.
4. No Peanuts: These delicious, nutty pieces of yum are actually legumes. Bummer. Still will consume very rarely, but have mostly swapped to almond and coconut butters.
5. No corn: It seems like everything processed and in a package these days has some corn by product. No processed foods? No corn. Although corn on the cob at a BBQ may happen occasionally.
6. No soy: Like corn, this is in EVERYTHING. It’s also super bad for you for a lot of reasons you can read here. Easy to drop. Exception is fermented soy products (tempeh) which I make 2x/year max.
7. No sugar or fake sweeteners: Sugar is really bad for you for all the reasons we all already know. Fake sweeteners are just as bad since they tend to bloat you and stoke the sugar fire. Your body realizes you’ve given it something that tastes like sugar, but isn’t actually sugar and that makes it crave sugar. Sound like a vicious cycle to me!

Wow, what a downer that was. Let’s talk about what I do eat!

1. Veggies: All day, every day. I focus on how I can get MORE veggies in my diet. Here’s where I get all those nutrients that processed foods are fortified with. Yes, processed foods are fortified with nutrients (iron, folic acid, calcium, I can go on) that exist NATURALLY in vegetables. As for your early question I know you had about where I get my calcium since I don’t consume dairy regularly? Dark. Leafy. Greens. How easy was that? You don’t like green stuff? Do some research on ways to prepare ’em and I promise you will find something you like. Organic vs. non-organic? I try and follow the dirty dozen and don’t beat myself up about it.
2. Fruit: Nature’s sugar! I don’t consume this in the same frequency as veggies since I do keep and eye on my carb levels. Typically I get in an apple or some berries a day and will add a banana in if I’ve got a hard workout or am teaching.
3. Protein: All the protein I consume that doesn’t come from the veggies, comes from animals. You may be thing “Well, duh!” The reason I make this distinction is because I believe it’s super important to eat real food (JERF) and protein bars (candy bars, really) and protein shakes aren’t really food. And they are loaded with sugar or fake sugar. No thanks. I do my very best to purchase only organic, free raise chicken that have never been fed soy (and aren’t labeled vegetarian!), grass fed (not grain finished!) beef and wild caught fish when it’s available. Yes that makes it more expensive, but I think it’s worth it to avoid the hormones that are traditionally given to animals raised for human consumption. And it also financially promotes the farms that raise those animals humanely and sustainably. Bonus is my money doesn’t go towards Big Agra and the system I believe is doing a great job of wasting money and making us all very sick.
4. Starchy veggies: Yes this is separate and I watch how much I consume daily. Mostly this will include types of squash and root vegetables. I aim for 1/2 to 1C depending on activity. This is still something I’m tinkering with and probably will for the foreseeable future. It’s more of an art than a science.
5. Nuts: It’s a good thing I’m not allergic! I love nuts, but do limit how much I have since you really can overdo it. No more than 1/4C per day, and this includes nut butters.
6. Healthy fats: I learned early on that if you back off on the amount of carbs you are consuming, you have to up your healthy fats. These will help you feel satiated and consuming healthy fats helps you lose fat! This includes avocados, ghee, butter from grass fed cows and coconut butter.

Example of a Day Eating Paleo

Breakfast: Buffalo Chicken Egg Muffins (I do add a little goat Brie to these)
Mid morning snack: 1/3C full fat Greek yogurt with cinnamon and sprinkle of nuts (walnuts, pecans, etc)
Lunch: Herbed Pork Roast with a lot of asparagus
Afternoon snack: green apple with nut butter
Dinner: Spicy Pineapple Paleo Chili with a little Greek yogurt or guacamole on top and a glass (or two!) of wine
Dessert: half cup of coconut ice cream (chocolate or strawberry from Trader Joes is soooo good) or a little dark chocolate

Never feeling deprived? Priceless.

Paleo 101

Disclaimer: I’m not a nutritionist or expert on the Paleo lifestyle. This is written as my story and includes the resources I have used to learn about how to eat.

Two years ago, I made a pretty big dietary change. After YEARS of dieting, disordered eating and overexercising, my body starting rebelling. I was holding onto extra weight, had horrible allergies (seasonal? HA! Try four seasons), was exhausted all the time and had developed acid reflux. I was in my mid-twenties and although I was on the slighter higher end of weight healthy for my height, I had a lot of muscle mass and thought I ate pretty healthy. I mean, I wasn’t eating fast food all day!

After some conversations with my mom, who had been dealing with some of the same problems, I decided to go gluten free for a while to see if that would fix some of my nagging issues. Within three weeks the acid reflux was gone and I was starting to feel a lot better.

When it comes to Celiac disease, gluten allergies and gluten intolerance you have two options for diagnoses. You can go to a doctor, arrange for testing and get a definitive answer, but you have to continue eating the foods that make you sick. No gluten = no autoimmune reaction. The other options is to do an elimination diet and cut out standard allergens (wheat, dairy, nightshades, etc) and then slowly reintroduce to see what the body reacts to.

I’m not gonna lie, both ways pretty much suck. What sucks more? Continuing to eat food that was making me sick. I have also learned over time that while the belly issues weren’t fun (bloating, digestive distress, acid reflux) grains (not just gluten) were also causing psychological reactions. If I’m not careful or am accidentally dosed, I can suffer from uncontrollable anxiety. When you are in a high performing work environment, that is asking for some seriously sleepless nights.

Unfortunately for me, going GF didn’t fix my issues. If anything, it opened my eyes to much bigger ones. I started doing some research and discovered that while going GF was a great first step, if it was my only step I could look forward to more of the fatigue, allergies and possible weight gain. The reason? Products labeled gluten free don’t carry the gluten protein that triggers the autoimmune response behind my woes, but they aren’t nutritionally sound. So pasta? Pizza? BREAD? I had to start thinking of these as very occasional foods instead of simply replacing them with GF substitutions on a weekly basis.

Once I figured that out, I discovered Paleo. I’m not going to get into all the arguments behind this lifestyle. You can check out the links below to learn more. What I will say is that once I embraced Paleo, my life changed. I’m not exhausted all the time. I perform better in work and at the gym. My allergies are under control. I feel so much better. Take a moment and check out what the real experts on Paleo have to say. It isn’t conventional wisdom, but when we live in a country with sky high obesity numbers, a diabetic pandemic and more and more people suffering from autoimmune diseased (I have alopecia), it may be time to think outside the box.

Resources:

What’s wrong with the food guide pyramid?

How do we stop being so fat?

What’s wrong with sugar?

Grain Manifesto

It Starts With Food – Best book hands down

Product Review: Introducing Ellie!

There are days I wish I could hang out in yoga pants all day. Then of course I remember how much fun power suits are! Washington is commonly criticized for being a bit boring on the fashion side, but I have a bit of an affinity for a lovely tailored suit and effortless blouse.

But my workout clothing? Totally different story.

Comfortable, flattering clothes for my workouts and classes are pretty much a given. But since I tend to the conservative side for my 9-5, sometimes I need a little something extra for the gym. Like most of my fellow group-ex instructors, I would love to live in Lulu all day. That unfortunately is neither practical nor good for my checkbook. And while I love their products, everyone in this town seems to be obsessed as well. There is something about showing up to class in an equally awesome workout outfit that everyone else seems to also be rocking.

I recently stumbled upon a brand new company called Ellie and their exclusive line. By brand new, I mean they literally launched in February. Ellie is only available online and every month a new collection is available. You can either opt for a membership for $49.99/month that comes with a top and bottom based on a style profile you provide, or you can select pieces individually ranging from $35-$68 each.

Back in January when I heard about Ellie, I was lucky to receive a complimentary pair of capris from them before their line was available. They were so cute, I immediately signed up to be a part of their ambassador program and selected a top and bottom from their February collection. I selected the Vixen tank and Love Struck legging to review. (Disclosure: I received these complimentary to review)

When they arrived a few weeks ago, I immediately put them to the test. While I’m sure some people can get their workout on without breaking a sweat, that is not the case with me! My workout clothing has to be tough, because I work hard and play much, much harder. I wasn’t just evaluating the clothing for looks, but fit, durability and endurance. Now on to the dirty details!

Vixen Tank (14 out of 15)

Fit: This selecting required a bit of extra bravery on my part. I have tried tops like this before that just didn’t flatter. I was pleasantly surprised on both the fit and that it managed to NOT make me look pregnant. 5 out of 5

Durability: I paired this with Lulu’s TaTaTamer (seriously, this is nonnegotiable, they need taming) and had to adjust this very little the first 45 minutes of class. After that point, I did need to pull the front up just a bit but as I was wearing a full coverage bra it wasn’t a big deal. I may not wear it again for Combat, but will definitely give it a go in Pump to see if the front stays put. 4 out of 5

Endurance: For good reason, I do not commit to my workout clothing until it has been worn and washed once. Performance wear that holds onto odors is a major peeve of mine. I’m happy to report that these made it through the wash and smelled lovely. 5 out of 5

Love Struck Legging (15 out of 15)

Fit: I was very happy with these. I tend to not wear leggings unless I’m going to yoga as sometimes they are a little too snug. These were comfortable and flattering. 5 out of 5

Durability: I did not have to pull these up once during class. I can’t emphasize enough how big this is. I’ve had issues in the past with workout bottoms that couldn’t hold up to the high knees, kicks, forward and backward shuffling and overall craziness I do in class. I prefer to not have one hand holding up my pants while trying to teach. 5 out of 5

Endurance: Yay for non stinky workout pants! These came out looking like they did when I pulled them out of the box! I will wear these all the time. 5 out of 5

Now that it is March (seriously where did February go?!?) they have a new collection available and are still selling the pieces from February that are not yet sold out. Check out the video below to see the adorable new stuff they added! In April they will be rolling out a full 24 piece collection. I’ve included a button below to sign up and get 20% off your first purchase. That also applies to the membership if you decide to give them a try! Let me know what you think!!

Q & A with Kristin from Paleo Trail!

For those of you connected in the Paleo blogging world, you have been hearing some great stuff about this new site, Paleo Trail. I recently connected with the creater, Kristin Jekielek, and asked her a few questions about how this idea took the next step.

This is a Q&A with Kristin.  She is a self-described Paleo Eater Extraordinaire and created the Paleo app PaleoGoGo for meal recommendations at over 300 national chain restaurants (US-based). Read on for her Paleo story and to learn about her new website Paleo Trail.

Gray: Tell me about how you go this all started. Do you have a background in web design or have you just been learning along the way?

I’ve been part of the Paleo/Primal community since early 2009, and I read a *lot* of blogs and forums in my eternal quest to learn more. After a couple years, this gave me a lot of insight into what people are looking for as they stick to the diet or as they start out. I came up with the idea for Paleo Trail based on my own experiences with diet tracking while dealing with some health issues, and I realized that a lot of other people were also looking for an easy, online way to track the Paleo-ness of their diets without having to calorie count.

I have zero experience with web design or development. I come up with ideas and dip into my piggy bank to have other people build them to my specifications. This is why I charge for access to the upgraded Reports & Analytics offered in a Paleo Trail Complete membership. However, I believe that the core features offered in a Paleo Trail Free membership are so helpful that everyone should have access to them – which is why they’re free! For example, you’ll have a Paleo Trail Calendar that shows you how clean you’ve been eating lately as part of a Free membership.

If you enjoy using Paleo Trail and wish to support the site, you can upgrade to a Complete membership at any time by visiting your Profile

Gray: What is your advice for people who have struggled with disordered eating to use your site in a way that doesn’t trigger bad habits?

I had struggled with an eating disorder for over a decade, so I absolutely understand the concerns around this. While I can speak to this from my own experiences, anyone else dealing with an ED should understand that they may find a different approach works better for them. Diet tracking with or after an ED should be taken seriously and self-monitored for unhealthy thought patterns.

For me personally, completely avoiding calorie counting is crucial (which Paleo Trail allows you to do). I used to be a chronic calorie counter with a running tally in my head all day, every day. Going Paleo allowed me to drop that bad habit once I realized that I maintained by body composition by simply following my hunger cues (which were restored by eating Paleo).

The 4-color Quality Rating Guide was also developed with this in mind. I wanted to avoid the “black & white” thinking about food that so commonly accompanies an eating disorder. By including yellow and orange ratings, I acknowledge that some foods/meals can be “pretty good” for you, even if they aren’t 100% clean. Similarly, some meals are “not good” but still not total cheats.

I also don’t require members to record a detailed list of every single food consumed and in what quantity, although I provide this as an optional feature. The thinking here is that you can avoid the obsessive thought patterns about your food, and instead focus on the quality of the food you put in your body, which is ultimately what promotes health the most.

Gray: Is there a reason activity is not tracked in Paleo Trail?

I have some long-term plans for Paleo Trail that include Exercise, Biomarker, and Goal tracking, but those are pending funding. If the current version of Paleo Trail does well enough, I’d love to add more features like these! Once/If we get to that point, I’m going to be using member surveys to determine which to build first and how they would be most helpful. This tool was made for you guys, so I want to hear from you!

Gray: Do you have plans to create a smart phone app?

Yes. We’re working on an app for the iTunes store. It will be free and function as a quick and simple way to upload meals on the go. This is where we’re starting with app development, and we’ll expand to other markets if it’s popular enough.

Gray: I love that this can be used as a way to track your habits (when you eat, when you cheat most) to better understand your triggers and needs. You mention in some of your interviews that it is super important for people to do their own research. Have you thought about ways you can connect your users through your blog to the countless resources out there in the Paleo blogosphere?

Ya know, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this. The conclusion I end up with every time is that there are quite a few sites out there that already do this really well. A favorite of mine is http://freepaleo.com/. I’d rather let them be rock stars at connecting the Paleo/Primal community while I focus on making Paleo Trail the best it can be. But now that you bring it up, I should at least link to them from my site! Thanks for pointing that out 🙂

Thanks Kristin! I’ve already begun using Paleo Trail and I’m learning so much already about my own eating habits and triggers. I can’t wait to see how this site will continue to grow and evolve!

 

Long Weekend in Charleston

 

Oh the south! As a former west coaster, many of my vacations consisted of Pacific beaches, hiking in Yosemite and the occaisional international adventure. Now that I reside on the opposite coast, its like whole new worlds have opened up!

Between my work travel and that little road trip I took in 2008, I’m slowly chipping away at the list of states unseen. Compared to my husband’s list, we had a few in common. After a hectic holiday season and with this deployment looming, we decided to plan a getaway over a long weekend. Neither of us have visited South Carolina, so this southern gem was high on both our lists.

If you haven’t made it to Charleston yet, find a weekend and do it. Southwest (BIG FAN) started booking flights through the little Charleston airport and we were able to get a pretty good deal on non stop flights out of BWI. As Charleston is about an eight hour drive from the DC area, a 50 minute flight was a no brainer. There are also countless little bed and breakfasts as well as reasonably priced hotels, so finding afforable lodging was pretty easy.

Weather wise, we majorly lucked out. I was a little worried that early February might be a little on the cold side, but we were pleasantly surprised. It stayed comfortably in the mid 50’s and rained as we were on our way to the airport to fly home. I’ve heard that it can get quite unbearable in August and September due to the humidity, so I would probably steer clear then. After that its hurricane season, so I would imagine that January to June is probably a pretty safe bet.

What does one do in Charleston? A city with easy walking is non negotiable for us. We spent a lot of time just wandering through the old streets and taking in the old churchs, graveyards, antebellum mansions and cute shops. Into good food? You certainly can’t go wrong in Charleston with the restaurants either. Want to see a plantation? There are plenty within a few miles of town. Interested in exploring the supernatural? We found countless walking ghost tours and haunted houses just waiting to be explored!

We managed to fit a few fun activities into our 2 1/2 day trip and I’ll be writing on them in more detail in the days to come!

Random Thoughts for Friday

Anyone else jazzed Monday is a holiday? I managed to swing two three day weekends in a row and boy do I need that extra day! Four day work weeks always wear me out.

Time for some link love!

• Someone should probably do their homework. 2 of the 3 states mentioned have not even applied for an exchange yet which means the Feds are in charge anyway…
• Gotta love reading articles that echo your own food hang ups and come up with the same conclusions at the end. Just eat real food!
• Another great approach to healthy body image and the ridiculous (fake!) standards we are held against.
• Have I mentioned that I LOVE Nigella? TRUTH.

Next weekend, I’m at Body Pump training!!! Wish me luck!

Spanish Moss

Magnolia Gardens