resolution update

so it's now been a month since everyone promised to be healthy wealthy and wise (for once!) this year. In the interest of being honest, and to keep myself on track, I'm going to track my progress the best I can, and this is my first update. My plan (if you didn't read it) was/is to:


work out weekly
no more junk food (3 home made meals and 1 snack or high quality restaurant food only)
pack a lunch/snack daily
eat breakfast
drink more green tea
no more regular alcohol (1-2 glasses of wine with dinner, no hard A)
jog with abbey and do yard work at least once a week
monthly massages and pedicures

so, full disclosure, the 'work out' portion never really made it out of the gate, I'm taking walks with Jared and/or Abbey as often as I can in the 'hood, but it's soo coooold! pretty much anything under 60, and I'm inside huddled by the heater with my blanket or cranking the heat/seat warmers in the car while I shiver and dream of warmer climates.
I've done really well with the eating portion. I've only hit the fast food twice since the new year (once because Dicks was like, screaming my name from 100 miles away, and once because, sometimes a greasy breaky sammich is the only thing to chase the hangover blues away) I haven't been snacking on carby nastiness which is a major improvement, and I've managed to only eat lunch out once. I've had breakfast almost every morning. (sometimes I just get up too late on Saturday!) I haven't been able to curb my coffee addiction for green tea, but, you know, baby steps. I have only had wine with dinner at home.
I was able to get most of the yard work I wanted to do before Jared came home. My amazing friend Jillian treated me to a pedi for my b-day, but I wasn't able to squeeze in a massage, better luck next month, back!

New Year

I'm not usually one for New Year's resolutions, mostly because I don't want to lie to myself, and my birthday is right after new years, so I have to start late anyway. However, this year I'd like to try something. With all of the changes that have happened over the last few years, I've been making an effort to meld what I've learned with who I am. So I've been getting back to basics and trying to be more conscious in my decision making. This started a few months back and I feel that, at least on a personal level, forward progress is being made.
Since Jared and I have wrapped up farming full time (which has been slowly folding up over the last two years) I haven't been as active, but have been super lethargic about starting an work out schedule. I was inspired by a blog I read earlier and have decided to really go for it, at least for a few weeks, and see if I can make some of the changes stick. So, without further ado, here are my new years resolutions:
work out weekly
no more junk food (3 home made meals and 1 snack or high quality restaurant food only)
pack a lunch/snack daily
eat breakfast
drink more green tea
no more regular alcohol (1-2 glasses of wine with dinner, no hard A)
jog with abbey and do yard work at least once a week
monthly massages and pedicures

I have a more detailed plan laid out for the next few weeks just to get the ball rolling, and plan on working out 6 days a week, and  not eating out or drinking at all during that time. I'm planning for two weeks, and then after that, I'll try my best to stick with it. Now, obviously I'm not going to be militant with myself, because, well, I never am. I will allow myself to 'take a break' every now and then for some narwahl balls (unicorn bar, what?!) or a jameson with ginger back. ;)

Portland bound

Me and my mom took a road trip this weekend! My mom has been wanting to go to Astoria/Portland for a while (Jared and I visit Portland as often as we can) and I've been wanting a road trip, so we decided to make a weekend of it. Our first was Astoria. We actually stayed in Warrenton, but it's like, 10 min. away, so whatevs...
We spent the first day heading down there, and the next day bumming around Astoria. We stopped at a great coffee place, and a little shop that was very inspiring. I got a great idea for a gift and we saw these super cute Christmas decorations. I'll be trying this some day soon...

 We even drove past the Goonies house! (goonies never say die!!)

Then we drove into Portland where we stayed at the Jupiter (which is a part of the Doug Fir). Jared and I have stayed there before and I liked it, plus, they're dog friendly, which we needed since Abbey was with us.

We went to Screen Door for dinner. They don't do reservations, and there's always a line at least a half hour before the doors open, so it's usually best to get there late, (8:30-9) but we were hungry from the drive, so we got there about, 5:45, and had to wait an hour, but we had drinks and chatted with the other waiting people, so it wasn't so bad. The food was beyond, as usual! I'll be eating the left overs well into this week! All in all a great weekend.

skinny bitch

I've never been the cutest/prettiest/coolest/smartest in any group of average girls, but I have been the skinniest. I'm really not saying this to be braggy, and it's really not that great by comparison (no guy outside of Los Angeles or the Fashion/entertainment industry has ever been heard saying, 'I really dig skinny chicks, I don't care how pretty they are' not that I've heard anyway) and it doesn't matter if you're being made fun of because your too fat or too skinny, it hurts either way, trust me.
Anyway, as ubiquitous as the quest for skinny is in the life of the American female, I have to say, I was given a good foundation. We always ate pretty healthy growing up, and I have the physical tendency toward skinniness, even though it doesn't necessarily run in the family. I was(am) never(not) particularly athletic, and not into sports, but always active (and now with the farm, i mean...) and never really gained weight until I was in my mid 20s. At my most unhealthy though, it wouldn't have mattered if I weighed 100 or 1000 lbs, I felt like shit. I was tired all the time, my skin sucked and all of my clothes made me feel like sausage. To contrast that, when we first started farming and getting into more holistic body care(?)(using less chemical stuff, etc) I was doing physical labor most of the day, eating extremely close to the ground (so to speak) and had a killer tan. I may have been dirt poor, but I felt amazing.
I'm currently surfing the space between. I eat more meat than I did a few years ago, and don't always have time to prepare every meal from scratch. I use oil of olay and sometimes even eat (gasp) fast food. I try really hard not to be a totalitarian about any of this stuff, and as strongly as I feel about being healthy, I hate the sound of my own voice and cringe at the memory of the times I've gotten super preachy about it. So, if I ever got on your nerves with my 'down with monsanto' ethos, sorry about that. love ya!
At this point I feel balance is king, all the rest is clanging gongs, ya know?

my 1st lunch today (I usually have 2 small breakfasts and 2 small lunches)

 remains of the yummiest breakfast I ever made

 tuna noodle casserole from (sort of) scratch

before and after