blackberry

Life has been going non-stop lately, and it doesn't look like it's gonna slow down for a while.  I leave on Thursday for Austin to speak at the Texas Style Council Summer School, then next week we bring home our new pup, then I'm throwing a party for my best friend Kristina, as a welcome-to-Tacoma-here-meet-some-awesome-people type thing.  Hopefully after that things will settle down for a bit.  I can't believe it's nearly August.  There were some blackberry bushes right next to where I was taking these photos and there were ripe blackberries on them already!  The end is nigh!  Actually I'm kind of excited because I'm reminded of how many pounds of blackberries and blueberries we got for free last year by just foraging.  They lasted for quite some time into the winter in our freezer!
This past week has been a sort of pre-TxSC for me in the PNW.  I met up with Colleen (and her man) from Pretty Prudent last Friday and we enjoyed tacos and fruity cocktails on Masa's sundeck while talking for hours.  Then on Sunday I headed up to Seattle to have brunch with Julie and some of the ladies from Modcloth who were in town to attend the Timber! Music Festival.  Julie and I ended up hanging out for the entire afternoon, hitting up the Fremont Sunday Market and a couple vintage shops in Ballard... and getting gelato, because, well, because.  I'll get to see Julie in less than a week in Austin, but it's always fun to get to see people in your stomping grounds and show them neat local places.  We were scheming ways to convince Modcloth to open an office in Seattle so we could both work there and she could move to the PNW.  But srsly Modcloth, open an office in Seattle because the PNW is the bee's knees.  



dress/courtesy of modcloth :: shoes/courtesy of bali elf  shades/courtesy of lulu's :: bag/courtesy of hearts

my fitness routine // making time to workout

When I first started working out it seemed like a lot of time.  I had never worked out every day, and spending 15 minutes to an hour doing something that seemed unnecessary felt like a lot of time to be "wasting."  It was definitely a shift that I had to make, mentally.  There are so many other things I could do with 35 minutes of my day than do a workout!  I could be answering emails, working on design clients' projects, editing photos, paying bills!  But really, it's not about making time as much as organizing time.  We give time to what we think is important.  Is fitness something that you want to make a priority?  Find a way to carve out that 35 minutes.

Insanity month 1 workouts are about 35-40 minutes long each, and the month 2 workouts are about 50-60 minutes long.  Month 2 workouts definitely are harder for me to find time to do.  An hour feels much longer than 35 minutes (especially when your ass is getting kicked).  Maybe an hour is simply too long for you and you can't figure out how to make time, sometimes I can't!  That's totally fine!  Keep doing the workouts that fit into your schedule.  A shorter workout is still better than no workout.  Jillian Michaels has workout videos that are around 20 minutes each.  I have her 30 Day Shred DVD and I believe each one of those workouts is 20 minutes, which isn't bad.  I know Shaun T (the guy who created Insanity) just came out with a new workout DVD called T25, which are all only 25 minute workouts.  I haven't tried them yet, but I'm interested simply because they're shorter and easier to fit into a busy schedule.  My best friend really likes Bob Harper's workout DVD's but I'm not sure how long those are.


There are tons of workouts out there (even lots of free ones to be found on Hulu!).  Some super long, some super quick.   The bottom line is, if you want to be more fit, you have to commit to carve out time for it.  It might mean sacrificing time in order to fit in a workout.  Figure out your priorities and commit.  Maybe make a meal that cooks in the oven for 40 minutes, and while it's cooking, do your workout.  Then you're making dinner and working out simultaneously.  Put your laundry in the dryer and then do your workout while it's drying.  Don't waste time scrolling mindlessly through your Facebook feed.  Morning person?  Hit the gym before work (I could never in a million bajillion years ever do this.  But people do, so I hear it's possible).  Take an inventory of your time and figure out where you can cut out unnecessary things like checking social media.  Some times it won't be easy.  There are days where I prioritize other things over working out, like spending quality time with people I love, or going on a fun trip.

Something that I know about myself is that I have to workout at home.  If I have to get in the car, go to the gym, and then workout, it's about 90% less likely to happen.  I workout at home.  And If I can work out in my minuscule living room at our old house (I had about a 6 x 3 ft area to do my workout), then so can you.  I currently do my workout in my kitchen.  Remove as many excuses as possible, and you'll only be left with the realization that you can workout if you want to... you just have to do it.

What I love about Insanity is that it squeezes a super intense workout into a relatively small amount of time.  I don't have time to spend 4 hours at the gym everyday.  But I like an intense workout because I actually feel like I'm getting into shape.  So you can also be savvy with your time by doing workouts that are going to do the most in the smallest amount of time.

At this point in my life I cannot imagine having time for a baby.  But I know that when I have a kid, it will become a priority and I will naturally make time for that child.  Working out doesn't come as naturally as motherhood (I don't think, at least), but when you make it priority, you'll find the time.   But don't just expect time to appear when you make it a priority.  You'll have to plan.  Make a plan for when you're going to work out.  Dan used to work the closing shift, so I'd have the house free from about 7pm to 2am and that's when I would schedule my workout.  Now he works during the day, so I usually do it in the afternoon.


If you're super motivated by something, identify that thing.  Put a buck in a jar every time you workout and once you reach a goal amount, take yourself out for a treat, or go on a vacation.  Give yourself a little treat after every workout (though nothing too crazy, otherwise, you're probably just nullifying the work you just did, haha).  I personally love checking things off lists.  I have my workout schedule on the fridge and I put a little piece of cute washi tape over every workout after I finish it.  Then I can visually see how many days in a row I've successfully done my workout, and I can tell how many days left I have until I reach my goal.  I also used to have my workout in my daily-to-do app on my phone, so I'd check it off there, as well as logging it on my fitness app.  If you like to see how many calories your burning or how many steps you take in a day, there are pedometers and other gadgets you can get which can track your progress in that way too.  Working towards a goal like running your first 5k or half marathon is another great way to stay on the wagon!  Or, you know, schedule a sexy boudoir shoot for the day after you finish your workout goal.  You'll work extra hard to look great for that photo shoot!

here + there

It's been forever since I did my last post with photos from here + there.  I've been trying to carry my camera around more, just to capture things I think are beautiful.  Now that farmer's market season is in full swing I love capturing all the beautiful natural things.  Flowers, fresh produce, treats, dogs.  There are so many cute dogs at farmer's markets.  I cannot wait until we get to take our little pup to the market.  Today I was at the market and there were two little Jack Russels, a smooth and a rough coat and it reminded me of our old dogs Little Bit and Pansy.  LB was a smooth/broken coat and Pansy had a rough coat.  

 

I did Warrior Dash last Saturday and got the results back on Tuesday.  I placed 23rd out of 1097 women in my age group (20-29) at 33:19.85!  I felt pretty good about it, especially having been my first 5k race!  I ran track in high school but nothing further than 400 meters.  I never fancied myself much of a long distance runner and never did Cross Country.  I like it though!  I especially liked the obstacle aspect of Warrior Dash.  There were quite a few spots where I had to walk due to a bottle neck, so I know I could definitely do better next time!  My shoes rubbed my feet so bad that I got the worst, nastiest blister ever.  I figured I'd run in my bad shoes and throw them in the discarded shoe pile after the race, but man did they give me a farewell blister.  So now I'm shoeless until I go out and get a new pair of running shoes.  My best friend is a huge fan of the Vibram toe shoes, so I might give those a try.  Until then, any training for future races is on hold.  Oh well!




We're incredibly in love with our CSA.  We have a half share so we pick up every other week, rather than every week, and it's so much produce.  I've been having fun learning how to cook things I never would've cooked before.  It's nice having an excuse to stretch my culinary horizons.  I'd never had kale, chard, or fava beans before our CSA!  Now I've cooked all three.  We also just signed up to get local milk delivered bi-weekly by Smith Farms, which I'm excited about!  They deliver local milk, eggs, bread, yogurt and more, which I didn't realize.  I thought it was just milk!  We'll be testing that out to see how we like it, but I'm pretty on board with it.  
It's so cool to be able to know the people growing your food.  Our CSA farmer is so nice.  She knows me by name and she personally bags my produce.  It's wonderful to show up to the farmers market with empty tote bags and leave with them overflowing with locally grown food.  I recently read this post about choosing locally grown food and it really resonated with me.  Mostly because I've had all the same thoughts, but have never put them all down in one place.  It's exciting to feel a momentum towards more locally grown food. 

I talked on the phone with my mom recently and Thanksgiving came up, and where we're going to go for Thanksgiving this year.  It's crazy to think that we're so far into 2013 that we're talking about Thanksgiving already.  It's also weird to think about all that will be different by then.  My little brother is going to a new college this year, so we'll get to hear how he likes his new school.  Dan & I will have a dog, and everyone will get to meet her!  We'll have celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary. Who knows what else will be new by then.  Time keeps on slippin' slippin' slippin' into the fuuuuutuurrrre...

TxSC // tips for introverts at the conference

Okay people, I'm steeling myself for all the TxSC festivities.  Almost all the blogger events I've been to in the past year and a half have been very hard on me, and I'm determined to make next weekend awesome.  I'm an introvert, and so that means being very intentional about making it awesome.

If any of you are introverts, I'm sure you've experienced the exhaustion that accompanies events like blogger meet-ups, conferences, and parties.  Last year at TxSC I literally hid in the back kitchen of the event space so I could recharge, and even that was a relatively unsuccessful last-minute attempt.  I'm not good at small talk, I'm not super bubbly and I'm kind of a wallflower, so parties where mingling and small talk is the main event? Not my favorite.  As a sidenote to extroverts (and introverts) if you see me hiding in the back or lingering on the periphery, not talking to anyone and keeping to myself, it's because I'm having sensory overload, not because I don't like anyone.  I probably like most of you, but the prospect of meeting you all seems rather daunting.

So here are a few tips that I'm going to keep in mind for myself during TxSC, and if you are an introvert who finds events like TxSC to be overwhelming, maybe they'll be helpful for you too!

1. Schedule enough down-time.

This is a big deal.  Introverts get drained by human interaction, unlike extroverts who get pumped up by it, so in order to recharge your fuel cells, you need to take time away from it all to be alone.  Maybe skip one of the workshop sections to go off by yourself.  You might be sad to miss out on something, but you'll be more sad when you're about to lose it and run back to your hotel room when something super fun is happening because you didn't recharge enough earlier.

2.  Have blog posts already scheduled during TxSC.

I'm very bad at blogging ahead of time.  Most of my posts are written the night before, or even that day, so this is something I'm really going to try and make sure I do!  This takes the pressure off of feeling like you need to blog during TxSC, which can be kind of impossible what with all the events, people meeting, and parties.  Having your blog all taken care of before you start your travel to TxSC will take a major load off your back.

3.  Booze it up.

Okay, this might just be me, but I can do extroversion very well with a couple drinks in me.  I become more friendly, open, and chatty, which is exactly the version of myself that I need for the party-type events.  They say that liquor is liquid courage, but I don't feel that way.  I've got plenty of courage, I need liquid extroversion sometimes.  I'm legitimately thinking of carrying a flask in my purse for the Prom party and taking a few sips in the bathroom now and then, just to keep myself in that extroverted place.  If I'm not feeling extroverted enough at parties, I just start to feel bad about myself and that makes me retreat more, and then I have zero fun.  A little booze can help me get into that party spirit (though definitely in moderation. Being the crazy drunk at the party is lame, and waking up hungover is also lame).

4. Have a plan.

Know when you need to be places and where they are.  Whenever I travel, I like to print google maps of all the places I need to go with their addresses, and have an itinerary with all the times.  Now that smartphones exist this isn't as necessary, but you can still have an itinerary!  There are so many things to do and places to go at TxSC that it can be overwhelming.  Going in with a plan will reduce stress significantly.

5. Have a set of questions to ask people when you meet them.

I am horrible, absolutely horrible, at making conversation because I don't ask questions.  I like answering questions, but I'm really bad at volleying back with my own.  I love conversing with extroverts because they just talk talk talk and I just listen and respond when necessary.  I'd like to work at being better at volleying back during conversation (mostly small talk, I'm okay when it comes to deeper conversations).  There are obvious questions like "what's your blog?" (cue business card exchange), and "where are you from?" but I'd like to have some other questions on hand that people haven't had to answer like 1,000 times, because that gets exhausting.

6. Suck it up and network

I got so crippled by my introversion last year that I didn't meet anybody from any other brands, and not a lot of bloggers either.  Besides getting to meet cool bloggers, events like TxSC are also awesome for meeting brands in person, putting a face with your blog for them.  I might make a goal for myself of meeting 3 people from brands I'd like to work with, rather than feeling overwhelmed about having to meet all of them.  I've only got so much networking juice in my system, and it's not very much, so I need to deploy it wisely.  I'm not going to push myself on this one though.  If I'm already feeling tapped out by the human interaction of other party-goers and bloggers, then I might scrap this one altogether so I can enjoy myself and have a good time with people.

7. Don't be afraid to approach groups of bloggers

One thing that is really hard with blogger meet-ups is that a lot of people go to meet new people, but, at least for me, while that's what you want to do, you end up gravitating towards people you know already, because that's your comfort zone.  It's like a fly to a lamp, when I see people I know.  I instantly move that direction because I see people I know and can talk to without the stress of small talk and meeting someone entirely new.  If you're a newer blogger, don't think that the bigger bloggers are doing this out of a conscious effort to avoid you, or to keep you out of their "clique."  It's likely that they've met before at other events, or even just fostered a good friendship online, and are happy to see each other again.  They aren't trying to form a clique where only "big" bloggers are allowed.  They aren't going to go all Regina George on you and tell you, "YOU CAN'T SIT WITH US!'  If they seem quiet and reserved, just know that meeting new people is hard, no matter how big your blog or small your blog is.

Are you an introvert?  What tips would you give to another introvert for dealing with a big weekend full of TONS of extroverted activities?

roasted beet hummus

One of the challenges with getting a CSA is figuring out what to do with things you normally wouldn't pick up on a regular grocery run.  In our last CSA pickup we got some beets and I've never actually cooked a beet in my life.  I've eaten beets before, on the occasion, but never has a beet found it's way into my personal kitchen.  I was excited though, because on the rare occasions when I have had beets, I've enjoyed them.  I had the makings for hummus laying around and decided to make hummus, but I usually like to figure out a new variation on hummus each time I make it just because it's fun.  I peeked in my fridge and saw the beets and thought that beet hummus sounded like something that might be a thing.  After some googling I saw that people have indeed made beet hummus, and it looked like a really fun hummus variation due to the nearly neon shade of fuchsia that results.  This hummus variation takes a bit longer to prepare, because you'll want to roast the beet beforehand which takes about 45 minutes to an hour, and then you need to cool it down after that.  But that color is just so incredible.  The beet doesn't seem to imbue a hugely strong taste to the hummus, but it's definitely a delicious hummus.  I enjoyed it with some sweet potato tortilla chips as an appetizer and I'd like to add it to a wrap too!
Ingredients
1 small-medium roasted beet
1 15 oz. can garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
zest of one lemon
juice of half a lemon
2 large cloves garlic, minced
2 heaping Tbsp Tahini
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions
1. Prepare the beet by wrapping it in foil with a bit of canola or olive oil and roasting in a 350º oven for appx 1 hour, or until a fork easily slides into the beet.  Once cooked, cool it completely in the fridge.  You don't have to peel the garbanzo beans but if you want to (it makes for a smoother consistency), do so while the beet is cooking and cooling so you're ready to go when the beet is!

2. Once the beet is cooled, peel and quarter it and place it in your food processor, blending until it's in small bits.

3. Add everything else, except for olive oil, to the food processor and blend until you reach a smooth consistency. Add the olive oil gradually as you mix.

4. Taste and adjust the seasonings as you like!  If it's not smooth enough, try adding more lemon juice or olive oil.  The hummus will keep in the fridge for about a week.  Enjoy!