Filed under: Uncategorized
Come visit the new home of Keepin the Pace!
Funny that I had just mentioned stress earlier… well, I had a leisurely morning and then strolled over to school to do a little more cleaning/decorating. I planned on staying only a few hours so I could enjoy the beautiful weather today.
Anyhow, I put two and two together and figured out a glaring (what must be) error in my schedule. Long story short, this error would be massive, and the more I thought about it, it may not be an error at all. It would change the course of my year – big time, and not in a good way. The proper people were not around to let me know the truth.
Needless to say, I was very distracted. Even though I only had fun things to do at school today, I was starting to get in a negative, worried mindset. Rather than litter my classroom with negative energy, I decided to leave for the day to physically remove myself from the environment. And the decorating was certainly a non-essential task for the day.
I have always been very good at handling high-stress situations. I can fairly quickly and easily mentally remove myself from the situation and rarely do stressful situations in my life manifest themselves to the outside world.
I think I’m a bit more affected because this situation is also very surprising. I know that I can make the best of any situation, and certainly will if this news is in fact correct, but today has tested my coping mechanisms.
Luckily, I had also planned on hitting the gym in the afternoon before a nice, long Bikram yoga sweat sesh. These will be super-cleansing for the mind and body.
I’m going to get zen and hit up Target (again) for some returns. Hasta Luego!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: breakfast, dealing with stress, pressure, running, stress
Hello! I’m usually such a morning person, but I’m a little sleepy this morning. Nevertheless, I’m up and did some exercises: 50 crunches, 15 push-ups, 20 squats, 20 dead-lifts. Right now it’s tea and 1/2 pb&j on whole wheat time, while I lament the fact that I didn’t go to the grocery store yesterday to get produce (we’re almost all out!)
Last night, the husbo worked late – very late. I like to wait up for him even if “waiting up” means leaving the tv on and falling asleep on the couch until he gets in which is what happened last night. He finally rolled in a little after midnight, and when you work at a 9-5 office job, this is extreme overtime. Anyhow, he was super-hungry when he came in so I heated up some dinner and then we went to bed. 5 hours later I woke him up to head back to work. Wow.
While I don’t ever work those crazy hours, my job can be extremely stressful. Many of us are stretched thin and have a lot of pressures in our lives. How do you take care of yourself when you are really stressed? How do you slow down and find time for yourself?
For me, exercise is key. Running is very cathartic for me. I can really clear my head while running outside and listening to only the pace of my footsteps. I tend to schedule some time to run on a really stressful week, even if only for a few minutes. It really calms my nerves and gives me uninterrupted alone time to work through problems.
I also tend to isolate myself from negativity. Lunch with teachers at work can often be a festival of complaints, and when I’m stressed and worked to the bone, I find a quiet lunch by myself, or with a book, really restorative.
As far as easing the transition back into the work week, I tend to use Sunday to cook a bunch of meals, prepare some lunches, etc. This can save me a lot of time during the week and also ensure that I am still getting very healthy, home-cooked meals despite not having much time. I’ll be posting quite a bit on make-ahead meals in the upcoming weeks.
These are a few things I do to keep stress at bay. So let me know – how do you deal?
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 30 day shred, diet, fitness, goal setting, goals, health, nutrition, pilates, rewards, running, strength training, yoga
As I mentioned before, I view my years from September to September. I set my goals and resolutions around this time each year. Generally, rather that set nebulous goals like “lose weight” or be more thoughtful, I try to make measurable short-term (month to month) mini-goals to help me get there.
Here’s what I’m striving for this September in…
Fitness:
- Do yoga 2x/week (either at home or at the studio)
- Complete regular exercises every weekday morning (push-ups, squats, sit-ups, etc).
- Run 3x/week (2 shorter weekday runs, 1 longer weekend run)
- Strength train (either at the gym or at home with Shred) 2x/week
- Swim weekly
Health/Nutrition:
- Cook fish 1-2x/week
- Try one new recipe from “How to Cook Everything Vegetarian” per week
Now, I admit, some of these I already kinda do. I already run 3x/week and I already try at least 1 recipe from HtCEV per week. I think this kind of motivates me though, and helps me develop the others into good habits too.
Whenever I set my goals like this, I also think of some rewards for my success. For example, if I keep up with all of my fitness goals, I’ll treat myself to a new, cute workout outfit after September is over. This tends to work for me.
What do you do to stay motivated?? Do you reward yourself? Set short-term goals? Let me know your thoughts!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: granola, Kashi Go Lean crunch, pesto, pumpkin spice latte, September, Starbucks, Target
If today is any indication, this is going to be a spectacular month. I’m completely certain of it.
I hung around school until about 12:30ish. While there, I had a little snack of a Pink Lady apple (my fave), a few almonds, and some Japanese white tea. I was so busy running around that I forgot to take a pic (lo siento!).
Then, I walked up to Target for some school/home shopping. Mind you, I love all things Target. It’s hard for me to leave with fewer than three shopping bags. As if the day couldn’t get any better, I stopped at Starby’s in Target and saw that today is the official first day back for the pumpkin spice latte! It was lip-smackin’ delishy. I know, this is like the day that dreams are made of.
I walked back home with my bags (which included 30, yes 30, composition notebooks among other things). I don’t normally count a walk as part of my workout, but this walk was quite a workout, I must say.
I worked up an appetite on the way home, and had some pesto w/ whole wheat pasta while watching the US Open again.
Yum! I was still kinda hungry after the pasta and had some of the granola that I made on Sunday.
I should tell you that this granola deserves a disclaimer. A year or two ago I overcame a major addiction to Kashi GoLean Crunch cereal. I couldn’t keep the box in my house for more than a 24-36 hour period. I would inhale it as if I’d never seen food before. Small children and pets would need to keep their distances lest they be mistaken for the Kashi. I quit cold turkey and haven’t looked back. If you, like me, cannot keep sweet crunchy delicious health cereals in her house for fear of overdose, tread lightly around this granola. I think the next batch I’ll have to send with husby to his office.
The rest of my afternoon/evening includes a little school work, and then meeting some friends at the Boat Basin for dinner and drinks.
Enjoy the weather!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: morning workout, push-ups, run, September
I LOVE September. For most people, January is marked with resolutions and new goals, etc. For me, I guess since my teaching year begins in Sept., I tend to set my big goals at this time of year. I also get myself back into routines after the summer.
I started off this morning doing some exercises while watching the news: 10 push-ups, 40 squats, 20 Romanian dead-lifts, and 40 sit-ups. Then I checked the Google Reader while enjoying a pre-run bite:
Half slice of whole wheat bread and a shmear of natural peanut butter (and a glass of water, of course).
I went for a lovely 3 mile run, and again I’m in love with the weather today. Once back home, I had the other half slice with a teeny bit of pb and a teeny bit of low-sugar grape jelly with my chamomile mint tea.
Now I’m heading back to school just to do a little decorating, then I’m running some errands this afternoon. Yay for September!
I don’t know about you, but here in NYC the weather is absolutely gorgeous. I’d go so far as saying it’s perfect. Yes, perfect. It’s in the 70s, little/no humidity, blue skies, gentle breeze – ahhhh I’m in love with it.
After my morning at school, I’m home for some pesto and watching day one of the US Open (I heart watching tennis). On deck for the afternoon: a brief nap (I’m exhausted), a nice long walk, and Pilates class on the Reformer. Lovely.
As a teacher, my summer ends when I have to go back into the classroom. That’s today. Officially I don’t start until September 8, but as of today my carefree summer mornings are gone and will be replaced with manual labor in my poorly ventilated classroom.
Breakfast today was the usual summer special: smoothie (soymilk, berries, pomegranate juice), handful of almonds, and some chamomile mint tea.
I haven’t decided what I’ll do for lunch yet. Depending on how productive my morning is, I may come home for lunch to recharge. Workout tonight will be pilates (yes!) and I think I’ll leave it at that since I’ll be working hard in the classroom all day.
I’ll hold up my smoothie and cheers to a great new school year!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: breast cancer, nyc, pilates, shape magazine
It’s almost Pilates for Pink time! This October 4, Shape magazine will be sponsoring Pilates for Pink. A full day of pilates in Union Square park, here in NYC, that benefits the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. For $25, you can take pilates classes all day, mingle with other like-minded ladies, and take home a sweet swag bag and pilates mat.
I know I’m signing up – hope to see you there in October!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: granola, lemon zest, muffins, new york times, olive oil, pesto, recipe
Ahh! What a wonderful weekend. I was in Philly for a family tailgate at the Phillies game, which included some hot dogs, lots of beer, and lots more rain. There were about 30 of us total and it was funny to look at the three rows in front of me at the game and realize that I knew everyone sitting in them, haha. We had such a great time!
Once we got back in the late afternoon, we had an early dinner of the black bean enchilada bake and corn salad that I made on Friday. The corn salad was possibly even better after soaking up flavors for a few days in the fridge.
After dinner, I settled in to make a few things for the week. On my list of things to do: pesto, granola, and muffins. The common thread, I decided, between the three would be olive oil. Pesto was easy – I used basil (obviously), parmesan cheese, pine nuts, garlic, ad olive oil. I toss them in the Magic Bullet and play it by ear adding more olive oil as needed. I’ll post a pic when I mix it with some pasta. I love pesto and can’t wait to eat it all week!
Next up was the olive oil granola from the New York Times that I’ve been dying to try. I made many substitutions, only using the recipe as a loose outline. For example, I used almonds and sunflower seeds instead of pistachios and pumpkin seeds. Also, I omit the coconut chips, and I switched the cardamom for ginger and omit the dried fruit. It’s been out of the oven only about 45 minutes and husbo and I have already noshed so much our bellies ache – it is so easy and really really really tasty.
Caution: It may look innocent enough, but it’s dangerously addictive.
Next up? Olive oil muffins. I really just googled “olive oil” muffins and used the recipe that called for 2 eggs (that’s all I had!). So I found this one. Once again, I hijacked the recipe and made many substitutions. I ran out of white flour, so I wound up using only a little more than 1c and using cornmeal for the rest. Besides, I kind of like the texture of cormeal. Also, I added loads of lemon zest – there’s something delicious about olive oil and lemon zest. They baked up perfectly, and I doused them with a bit of confectioner’s sugar.
They are really yummy and the lemon added a really nice vibrance to the muffins. They will be great for breakfast in the morning.
I’m gearing up for the week. I’ll be heading into school tomorrow to set up my classroom and attempt to mentally prepare myself for another school year! I’m not ready for the summer to end yet!
