sorel boots. kale soup.

i got a pair of sorel boots in the mail today. i feel like this has thrust me into an entirely different category of 'minnesotan'.

breakfast cuppin' cakes

it’s january. time for resolutions and sh*t. i don’t have any resolutions but i do have goals. one of them is to get through one solid year, one solid stretch of three-hundred-and-sixty-five days without another running injury. i plan to meet this goal by being stronger than i’ve ever been. i’m going to do so many single leg squats and planks that my eyes are going to go crisscross and i’ll be running 8 miles like i’m making a sandwich.

i also think 2014 is the year when i’m going to learn to eat. good gracious, is this hard…

a lot can happen in 30 days

a “friend” at work (work-friend? co-worker? fellow-cube-prison-mate? she’s a bit more than just a co-worker, but i’m not sure if i’d call her a non-quote-friend yet. so we’ll just keep her as a “friend” in “quotes”… for now). anyway, this supposed friend told me about this 30 day challenge thing, where you eat clean and move your ass and commit to it for 30 days.

commitment is not my strong suit…

white chicken chili

i don't know what it is exactly, but as the temperatures get colder, i just start making soup. like, i seriously have a september soup problem. some people go to apple orchards or pumpkin patches. others make pumpkin bread or halloween party plans. but seriously - i just make soup. it's all i'm good for when the mercury falls below 55 degrees. a few nights ago, it was tomato. tonight, it was white chicken chili. it was easy and delicious, so check it out.

i love madison, bacon, and other ramblings

my best friend shannon and i took a girls' trip to madison, wisconsin over the weekend. i have lived in the midwest for 13 years now, but have only just discovered the little gem that is madison. here's the highlight reel:

there are no excuses, but i'm gonna make lots of them anyway.

holy shit. march 27th. march 27th was the last time i wrote anything on here. what the f*ck have i been up to? and/or what is wrong with me? there are no excuses for this behavior.

wait, actually, there are.

your lunch really smells.

so this will be my attempt to tell the truth about how much sh*t i really eat.

seriously, it's terrifying.

so did i tell you about the time...? (warning: not for the squeamish or any of my male readers)

so did i tell you about the time that i decided to go run four miles with two dudes that i work with?

i think i'm gonna like it here...

i honestly can't believe that eating bacon has done this for me, in just 30 days.



look at what mama did! or, look at what bacon did.
weight loss, in a completely nerdy graph.
you're welcome.



week three of paleo.

it's been about 3 weeks since the badger and i converted over to this paleo way of eating. i've made mention a few different places that i'd post an update on how we've been feeling and on how it's going... so here it is.

i don't know who i am anymore

in the span of just one month, yes, one month, we have gone from being vegetarian to paleo. i have been known for making broad pendulum swings like this in my past. in fact, i'm kind of prone to them. so whatever. judge me if you must.

difficult things.

it's funny.

when you eat real food, you want to keep eating real food because you fill up really fast and aren't that hungry between meals.

when you eat sh*t, you want to keep eating sh*t. and after eating the sh*t, you feel like sh*t. you are hungry/irritable/depressed and mad at yourself for eating sh*t. and in my case of astounding mental stability, those loathsome feelings just send me right back to the chocolate bucket, bag of chips, can of cancer-laced soda, pint of beer, etc. (aka "sh*t")...

i married ron swanson

somewhere between being a vegetarian and craving meatloaf is where the badger and i swing quite frequently. when i met him, he was in the best shape of his life, and a 98% vegan. at the time of our courtship, i had dabbled in being a vegetarian with vegan tendencies, so i enjoyed our early days together as we learned to cook and eat vegetarian and vegan together. but in the years since we've met, i've gone back to some of my 'roots', per say, when it comes to cooking. nothing can worm your way into a man's heart like a bacon-wrapped meatloaf, especially when that man is a wisconsin boy raised on meat and potatoes.

grand theft auto is not just a video game...

it is a police event that culminates in your backyard.

but i digress, let’s start from the very beginning. a very good place to start…

whoops, i did it again.

will that song ever not be awesome?

moving on, what exactly is it that i "whoops" did again?

i signed up for another half marathon.

a half marathon recap of sorts

i did it. i actually did it! i ran my first half marathon this morning. my time was 2:10:37.

i had set some unrealistic goals for myself, to the tune of "finish in under 2:00!", which was a tad impractical given that this was my first distance race. but when i got to the start line this morning, i was just giddy with excitement. i had trained my ass off, and this was my day. no expectation or missed goal was going to rob me of this, my first half marathon. so my goals changed as i crossed over that start line. i decided to enjoy the run, high-five the spectators, rock out to my awesome playlist, keep consistent with my speed, and keep a smile on my face as much as i could.

totally freaking the f*ck out (or, my first half marathon is in four days...)

my first half-marathon is this saturday. last night, after a 30-minute-pity-party about how much i've fallen off the running wagon these past two weeks, my mother said to me "well, you've got some cramming to do this week then!"

i know that she means well and that my endeavor to run 13.1 miles is quite a foreign thing to her. but the thing is, you can't really cram for a half-marathon in the last week. i don't know much about racing, but i know that. with only four days to go, if i'm not ready now, there's not much that can be done.

ten, ten, ten, ten, everything, everything, everything, everything!

if you understand the reference in the title to this post, then you most likely graduated high school sometime between 1994 and 1997 and therefore should rejoice in being a part of the most amazing generation ever.

this past saturday morning, i tackled my first double-digit (or, what i shall herein refer to as 'double-deuce') mileage in preparation for my debut half-marathon on april 28th. the farther i journey down this rabbit hole of long(er) distance running, the more i realize that i have no idea what i am doing. i have read endless articles on training plans, injury avoidance, blog posts on hydration and fueling for longer runs and, of course, subscribed to runner's world... which apparently is a requirement if you are to become a 'real' runner. you must have a collection of back issues of runner's world and when you find yourself in a conversation with another runner who references "that article on shin splints from the october 2004 issue of runner's world", you must immediately acknowledge that you not only have read the article, but have it framed in your bedroom.

i quit.

don't panic. i know it's been a while since i've posted, and i'm sure that you've missed me, thought about me constantly, and you're probably thinking right now that "i quit" means that i'm quitting my blog.

but i'm not.

i am quitting quit weight watchers.

weight watchers, beer and chowder.

so. i joined weight watchers.

i know, right?

after almost a year of trying to lose weight, i faced the music a few weeks ago and realized that i may be one of those people who needs an external force to help me out. now that the twins are two, i technically can't get away with calling this 'baby weight' anymore. and although getting back into running this past year has helped, i've only lost about 15 pounds so far. there's another 15 that i need to get rid of in order to not be considered 'overweight' by those infuriating BMI charts, and i'd love to squeeze my ass into some size 8 or 6 jeans by summer.