Tag Archives: Wine tasting descriptors

2012 I am Glad to See You Go

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It scares me and also delights me that 2012 is already coming to a close.

This year has been full of so many ups and downs. It has been without a doubt the worst year of my entire life, so far. With that being said, I have also grown so much that I don’t even recognize the girl I was in 2011. She was selfish, stubborn, and significantly less mature.

I lost a brother, my ex-fiancé, life as I knew it. But in their place I grew stronger, independent, and a new city that feels more like home than any place ever has. I ran my first 10k, 10 miler, and half marathon… I even began training for my first full marathon, even if the race itself isn’t until 2013 ;)

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As painful as the year may have been, I am thankful for the opportunity to grow and become a truly better human being, through and through. I learned more valuable life lessons in the last 12 months than I have in the last twenty-something years I’ve been on this planet. One of the most important lessons I learned, is who my true friends are.. The people who will be there for me no matter what. The people who even if we go a few months without speaking, pick back up once we re-connect as if we haven’t skipped a beat. The people who will travel thousands of miles to make sure you’re okay. Those are real friends.

friendsI even became an auntie to the most beautiful little princess.

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So honestly, as difficult as 2012 has been, it’s hard to chalk it up as a total bust. With that being said, I am over-joyed that the year is nearing its expiration date. I couldn’t be happier that 2013 is around the corner.

2013 is going to be MY year. I know everybody says that, every New Year’s Eve… However, I believe it. I feel it. I feel it in every bone in my body. It will be a year full of more growth, experiences, and love.

I, like many others have put together a list of resolutions goals for 2013. However, this year… They aren’t quite like a bucket list the way many years in the past have been. Okay, well perhaps part is ;)

  1. Run the San Francisco Marathon – my first 26.2
  2. Express my feelings more often. I have a habit of never letting people in entirely and hiding what my heart says. Enough of that!
  3. Live in the moment. I’m always planning 3 steps ahead or thinking about tomorrow. Sometimes I have a very difficult time enjoying the present.
  4. Spend more time with family.
  5. Open my heart again. Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean get into a serious relationship or fall in love.. But, after Zack and I split up I shut off the very idea of romantic interest. Shut down every guy who gave me the time of day, and ended up very lonely in the process. It took me until very recently to even have the desire to flirt with a guy… Which is bizarre for me, because I have a very very flirty personality, even when I’m not interested.
  6. See the bright side of things.

That’s it. A lot of these kind of blend together. I would say 2,3, 5 and 6 go hand in hand. Without one the rest are hard to accomplish. Now, I’m ready to scream it at the top of my lungs, 2013 I AM READY FOR YOU!!!

I hope that you all have a wonderful New Years Eve. I hope you have many laughs and cocktails, and sip on bubbly champagne. Please be safe. A cab is much cheaper than bail or medical bills.

;

What are your NON FITNESS related goals for 2013? What are your FITNESS goals?! Would love to hear both.

Elf For Health Round 1 Recap

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Just before Thanksgiving rolled in, some of my favorite bloggers Lindsay of the Lean Green Bean and Elle of Nutritionella started talking about their holiday season health challenge they were hosting, called Elf For Helath. Essentially, each week they would send out challenges, and every 2 weeks (or round) you would be matched up with another “elf” to help motivate one another and give ideas on how to exceed the challenges expectations.

I wasn’t entirely sure what it was going to be like, but I knew that it sounded fun, and that both of these ladies are passionate about health/fitness and super creative! SIGN ME UP. So, that’s exactly what I did.

The Sunday after Thanksgiving the first Elf matches went out along with our challenges for that week! I had the pleasure of being matched up with this lovely gal named Stephanie. Stephanie was truly a wonder to be partnered with! We both are human, and embrace the fact that we aren’t perfect. Some of the challenges were harder than others to meet, and we pushed each other to stay on top of it and do the best we could without beating ourselves up if we couldn’t. She gave me some great tips and insight on how to meet and exceed some of the challenges during the two weeks we had the pleasure of being each other’s elves!! She was such a sweet heart and I can honestly say is a woman I will actively stay in contact with even now that we are no longer partnered together!!

Stephanie, if you see this! Thank you for the last two weeks! It was great getting to know you!!!

The first two weeks of Elf For Health (aka Round 1) was a total blast!!! I wanted to recap it here for y’all!! It still isn’t too late to join the fun. You can sign up to be a part of the challenge for Round 3 by scooting over here!

WEEK ONE!

Monday: Meatless Monday
A huge trend in the health world, and well… Everywhere is to go meatless on Mondays!! This was something I expected to have a little bit of trouble with. I like meat. Especially since I recently started the paleo lifestyle, meat has become even more important (As sad as this makes me) so I was interested and a little nervous to see how I could make this work while still getting all the nutrients I needed. I learned that with a little planning someone could very well be vegetarian AND paleo.

meatless monday

Tuesday: Send a Card or Hand-Written note to a friend!!!
With technology growing so incredibly fast, it has become so much easier to stay in touch with our loved ones around the world.. However, I’ve always said it’s a sign of someone who truly loves you when you receive snail mail from them!! There’s just nothing like coming home from work to a letter in your mailbox from someone you care about!

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My best friend in the entire universe, Kyle’s birthday was November 27th. I decided to go on a scavenger hunt for the perfect birthday card. When I saw this, it was instantly the winner. We both have the immature sense of humor of a boy going through puberty, and we actually play the “in bed” game with fortune cookies!!

I also decided to write a few other hand written letters to stick in the mail to my mom and some other friends back home. I even wrote an open letter to my brother who passed away in February. It was so incredibly liberating to write down exactly how I feel about his death 10 months later. Words that I have never been quite comfortable putting on my blog. It felt great, and though he won’t read it, I believe that he knows I did that for him.

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Wednesday: Try a new workout!!
This couldn’t have come at a better time. I love running, I love yoga…. But it’s always great to spice up your fitness routine. I decided to go to a boxing class downtown! I ended up LOVING it to pieces and plan on going to more classes…. & yes next time I will wrap my hands better…Thanks for making fun of me BOBBY! :P

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Thursday: Get up 15 Minutes Early to Meditate & Reflect!!
Ahhh, yes. This was beautiful. I actually got up 2 hours early so I could hit the 6am yoga class before work, then headed into work 30 minutes early so that I could hang out in the dark with my coffee and just soak in the peace before a crazy hectic day of running around began. I wish I could say I will do this more often. I want to try… I just love my sleep so much… heh

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Friday: How many Colors can you eat today? Challenge yourself!
I made a chicken tortilla soup, minus the tortillas and most non-paleo things. I did include some beans, which aren’t paleo friendly but — It was still super healthy and DELICIOUS!!!!! I also made enough soup to probably feed all 900+ people in the challenge. Thank goodness soup is freezer friendly!! haha whoops.. But, I would say I got a whole heck of a lot of color in my tummy!! ;)

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The Weekend: Clean out Your Closet & Donate to Charity
When I moved to Austin at the beginning of November I donated 2 garbage bags full of clothes to Hurricane Sandy victims. So, unfortunately I wasn’t able to participate in that particular challenge. However, I recently did just that so I feel perfectly okay with the fact that I wasn’t able to!!

WEEK TWO

Monday: Track your fiber intake
ehhhhhhh. Monday bummed me out a tad. I thought I was eating so healthy now that I’ve “gone paleo”.. However I discovered on Monday that I don’t get nearly as much fiber now that I’ve cut out certain foods from my diet. However, I’ll chalk it up as a win because it was a learning experience. I spent a good chunk of Monday night researching paleo friendly fiber packed foods and recipes!!

Tuesday: Have a salad today and make your own dressing
This was fun and not at all difficult. Salad dressing CAN be complicated, but the healthiest ones are a cake walk!! I made a yummy Balsamic Vinagrete of sorts with a kick of lemon.. Perhaps I should call it Lemon Vinagrete? haha. I dunno. I will be posting the recipe for this dressing later this week! A child could make it, and its actually pretty healthy!!

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Wednesday: Pack a healthy snack & pack an extra one for a friend
Total fail. I admit it.. My bad! I woke up Wednesday morning absolutely nauseous as all hell and the last thing in the universe I wanted to think about was food of any kind when I left for work. However, a few hours into my shift I started feeling good as new and was starving. My coworker graciously shared a bundle of grapes with me that she brought. I was so thankful!! I even deemed her an honorary Elf for Health and made her an elf hat out of construction paper (this is what we do when it’s slow at work.. don’t judge haha) She was so intrigued by the idea she signed up for round 2 of Elf for Health!! :)

Thursday: Lets lift weights!
I worked from 6am until 8pm on Thursday and when I got out of work ALL I wanted to do was face plant in my bed and sleep until who knows when the next day. However, I knew that a workout would make me feel better and I knew that I needed to squeeze this challenge in. I didn’t go to the gym to do any heavy lifting like I had planned when I woke up that morning. Instead, I decided to just go home to my little dumbbells and get in some reps!! Hey, better than nothing, right?!

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Friday: Go make up Free today!
I don’t typically wear very much make up anyhow, so this wasn’t a huge deal. I always wear eyeliner and sometimes this shimmery skin toned eyeshadow that doesn’t even change the color of my eyelids, just makes them shimmer a bit… So I wasn’t totally stressing out about this the way a lot of people were. (Which, btw NO ONE should have been. You were all absolutely gorgeous!! Loved the pictures of fresh faces!!) However, Thursday night I made date plans for Friday and instantly got the “omg there’s no way I can go make-upless for the date!” I did it though, and felt super confident all day. I really think us women need to embrace our natural beauty more often.

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The Weekend: Plan your meals for the week and write your workouts down in your planner
I’ve gone back and forth on the whole meal planning thing. There were a few months I did it religiously, a few months I did it sparingly, and honestly ever since moving to Austin I haven’t been doing it at all… It was nice to do it again and although I’m not sure if it’s something I want or need to do on a weekly basis, it was still a great thing to do for this coming week. ESPECIALLY since it’s the holidays and for me, that means working 23534645 more hours than usual. Having things planned out and some what prepped will make coming home exhausted and starving that much easier. As for my workouts, I made my San Francisco Marathon training plan last week which includes cross training and what not so, that was already taken care of I’m happy to say! :)

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There you have it! Round one of Elf For Health IN THE BOOKS. 2 more to go. It sort of freaks me out that two weeks have already gone by since Thanksgiving. UM WHAT? Where is my life going? Though, It means 2012 is almost over, and I FOR ONE will be so happy to see this stupid year go. ;)

On Being Human

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Austin has been liberating. After quite the year, it really has become clear that everything does happen for a reason. I was meant to be in this city, I was meant to live my dreams. But, Austin has not treated my waistline or stomach very well, recently.

I love food. There is no denying this. I love to make food, taste new foods, find exotic restaurants, discover the local and amazing cuisine. Austin, has one of the best culinary markets in the country. So many locally owned and off the beaten path restaurants and markets.. I stopped paying attention to the nutritious value of what I was putting into my body, and instead began focusing on the taste and experience.

I mean, who doesn’t fall into this habit a little bit when in a new city? Especially one full of so much delicious food. Then, I had a rude awakening when I stepped on a scale at the gym the other morning. I had to go see in the mirror and I can’t believe I was in denial this long. I can’t believe I let it get this far!!!!

See, it shocks people that I’m so into fitness but I hate scales. They’re dangerous y’all. I will get fixated on a number if I have a scale in my home. I will freak about going up one stupid pound when I know otherwise it doesn’t actually matter. That numbers aren’t what’s important. Logically, I know that… But If I own a scale… All logic goes out the window.

But this is more than just numbers. This is big. For me. Since moving to Austin I have gained 15 lbs. Freshman fifteen?? No, more like then ATX15. It happened so quickly too. That’s the worst part. A month ago, just before I moved here I was at my lowest ever weight (since being an adult) and now I am at my highest ever weight.

I don’t have a body shot of me from October but this was August

I was stunned by what I saw when I finally really looked in the mirror. I could hardly recognize the person looking back at me. It was like a disoriented photo of myself. You know those apps you can download on your phone that make you look like you’re in a fish bowl.. or fat..

I’ve enjoyed living life without worry, I enjoyed my week off of running..But now it’s time to get my ass in gear. Especially because, not only am I disgusted with how I look and feel in my own skin… I can also see my current ways of eating taking a toll on my digestive system. As a girl who has always prided herself in not very often getting sick to my stomach, I have been nauseous several times in the last few weeks. I noticed yesterday, that it only happens after piling complete crap into my mouth…Time to Watch the foods I put into my body and get my butt back to the weight machines.

However, I am going to do it the healthy way. I mean, yo-yo dieting, from the Atkins diet to the pineapple diet (where you consumed large quantities of pineapple because pineapple would “eat” away the extra fat you were carrying), over exercising, diet pills, caffeine, and excessive calorie restriction isn’t exactly the yellow brick road to optimal health.

Making healthy choices for the rest of your life, bring you to optimal healthy. A perfect balance of nutritious foods, exercise and sleep. Which brings me to the Paleo “diet”… The Paleo Diet takes from the types of foods people ate prior to the Agricultural Revolution. Focusing on fruits, vegetables, lean meats & seafood.  Cutting the consumption of dairy, grains, refined sugars, saturated&trans fats and processed foods.

The Paleo diet sort of frowns on wine and beer. However, I’m doing a more 90% paleo type of eating. I’m realistic. I love my wine, I am not perfect, and I’m a big believer in just being human. Being human is what has brought me to this point. I have made some of the healthiest decisions of my life — like becoming a runner and moving to Austin. I’ve also made some of the least healthy decisions, like indulging too much thus gaining 15 lbs, and not being 100% sure how I got home Saturday night… ;)

Life happens, and I’m human. The biggest key of this flinestones way of life is to consume as much whole, real food as possible. Roughly a 30:30:40 ratio of protein, healthy fats and (produce based) carbs during my highest peaks of training.

My priority though? Just eliminate processed and refined foods. The ratios I will figure out throughout the course of my training. So long as what I’m putting in my body is clean and whole, that’s all I’m concerned with.

I don’t want to just be happy with what I see in the mirror. I want to be proud of how I got there, and how I continue to stay there.

All Roads Lead To (Foam) Barfing

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On Saturday I decided to do something a little crazy. For me at least. I’m sure there are people out there who do this and it’s no big deal. For me, it was nuts-o and even though I have figured out what the issue was and it wasn’t my crazy stunt… I still may never do it again. ;)

You see, I decided to run two races in one day.
The day after my longest run since April….

Brilliant? Or idiotic? You can be the judge of that…

Last month I won a giveaway held by A Runner’s Heart to run the 5k Foam Fest here in Texas. I was pretty pumped. I love some obstacle/adventure runs, and this one had WATER SLIDES THAT HAD BUBBLES INVOLVED. What’s not to love about that? Then, Friday night I’m out to dinner with my folks and my step mom mentions a 10k she was running in the morning. Well oh, okay… However, this post is entirely about the Foam Fest. We’ll get to what happened with the 10k later. ;)

Like most adventure races, the Foam Fest had various wave starts. A new wave was sent off every 20 minutes. I was scheduled for noon. Perfect timing to decompress from the morning and get my booty over there to pick up my bib.

courtesy of 5kFoamFest

I came prepared, because after Warrior Dash I was a sopping muddy mess and Zack didn’t even want to let me back into his car.. Even after I was hosed off and changed. He was still doubtful. So this time I decided to bring 3 towels, a jug of water to dose myself with incase any after-race clean up missed some spots, and of course a change of clothes/shoes.

The start line was incredibly entertaining. There were so many costumes, volunteers squirting people randomly with squirt guns and silly little contests to keep people motivated. I immediately decided if I ever put together a race, I’m going to do something along this lines to keep people from getting stir crazy at the start waiting for the gun to go off! ;)

Then we were off finally!

As soon as we cross the start line we were attacked (okay not attacked.. that might be a bit dramatic) by squirt guns. Which, let me tell you felt awesome in the rising Texas temperatures at 12 in the afternoon. Had this been almost any other part of the country in November and I would have cried probably.

Then we were off on a 3.1 mile, very windy hilly and muddy course that was full of obstacles, mud pits, giant hills, WATER SLIDES, inflatable slip n slides, cargo nets, walls. You name it, it was there pretty much.

One of the very first obstacles is a chamber of foam. Yes, the name pretty much says it all. This big inflatable chamber you go through filled with foamy delightfulness. Someone got a little carried away and went diving into the thing and swallowed a pretty hefty (and nasty tasting) gulp of foam. I could not get the taste out of my mouth for the life of me. At the first water station, I seriously stood there for like 5 minutes chugging cup after cup of water trying to get the taste out of my mouth. At one point I just said screw it and started moving again. A little foam wouldn’t kill me, right?

Wrong.

About a mile and a half into the race I started feeling light headed and nauseous. Like, I was seeing stars. Literally. I was half-way through though and the really fun (and more difficult…) obstacles were still up ahead. There was no way I was calling it quits…

So I kept moving.. I slowed down to a near walk by the time I was 2 miles in and was miserable. I literally felt like I was going to hurl and faint and the exact same time. Then came the evil dirt hill climb, cargo climb, and the 8 foot wall. Normally these would not be difficult for me. No one likes running up a giant hill… But, I mean… Normally I could do it just fine. I was literally turtle walking up that thing. I wanted to crawl I was so dizzy.

I didn’t get it. Why was I so dizzy? (Mind you at this point I had forgotten the gulp of foam I had for lunch and honestly I still couldn’t tell you 100% if that’s what it was.)

I was shaking the whole dang cargo net when I went over it, but I made it over it and then just stood in line staring at the 8 foot wall in front of me. Great. There was a huge line which was good. Maybe this will pass if I just sit tight for a minute. No? Okay that isnt working. Maybe if I can just get to the finish line and eat something. I hadn’t ate in between races because I didn’t want to cramp up. Maybe my body was telling me YO BIZNATCH FEED ME. The volunteer took one look at me when I approached the wall and said ” there is an option to tuck and crawl under the wall” Shoot, don’t tell me twice right now sir!

Stop. Drop. And Roll I sure did! I hopped back up and for a split second thought I was going to be alright after all. Silly body.

Then came the electric crawl… Where you crawl under electrical wires in a big SMELLY pit of mud. My stomach started turning as soon as my chin hit the mud. The smell wafted up and I just wanted to die. I swam through that mud like it was a freaking swimming pool and got out as quick as I could.

I thought I was going to literally pass out so I skipped the 30 foot slip n slide and the death drop and came to a dead hult at the ridiiiiiiiculously long line for the 50 foot slip n slide. I figured that sitting down (literally. on my butt. sitting) in line for a few minutes might help. I had absolutely no idea how much of the course was left and if I was going to be stuck in this gosh darn course for too much longer I may as well give my stomach some time to settle. (while in my head I was cussing it out for ruining what could have easily been a fantastic and fun day)

Finally after waiting what felt like forever I was at the front of the line and dove in the slip n slide.. Where I literally started gagging. All I could think was

“omg charlotte don’t throw up in this slip n slide. Do not ruin this race for every single person that is behind you. Do not even think about it”

I popped out and OMG THANK YOU SWEET 6LBS 8OZ BABY JESUS ITS THE FINISH LINE.

Where I grabbed my medal and shirt and just threw them on the ground and let it all. out. For a good 10 minutes straight.

Yeah, sorry about that mental image. But it wouldn’t be a recap if I left out the nitty-gritty now would it?

After what felt like a century I was dragged over to the med tent where they laid me down and gave me water to drink and after that kept coming back up they gave me some ice to suck on. Finally I felt good enough to sit up and they asked me a bunch of questions. I was in such a haze. What just happened? I wasn’t even pushing myself. I didn’t eat anything unusual. Yeah I had 2 glasses of wine the night before but that’s not going to make me sick. I’ve drank a half a bottle then run 8 miles the next morning and felt super… haha. What was going on?

Finally they decided I wasn’t dying and sent me on my way. Medal and t-shirt in hand.

I went back to my faja’s and tried to drink water and take a nap but that wasn’t happening. I decided that the foam was made out of poison. Is that true? Absolutely not. I have no idea what actually made me so sick on Saturday, all I do know is that it took 4 hours of drink water — oh hi again water — repeat, before I could finally lay down long enough to fall asleep for a few hours.

When I woke up it was like it was all a dream. I felt fine. It was so absolutely bizarre.

All in all, if I hadn’t gotten violently ill… This race would have been a freaking blast. Squirt guns, water slides, cargo nets, mud pits, hills, trail running, noodles that slap you in the face with foam. Etc.

Don’t let my horrible experience scare you off! This was honestly a fun race despite my getting so ill. I honestly don’t know if it was the foam or what was up… But, if 5k Foam Fest comes to a city near you, I really recommend looking into it. Running for a PR is what we’re all after it seems like, but we have to remember to have fun with it too!

:)

Would you ever run Foam Fest? Are you an Adventure/Mud Run type of person?
Have you ever gotten sick at a race?

7 Day CLEANSING Detox

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I’m having issues with stomach sensitivity recently. I don’t want to blame running, but honestly – since picking up my mileage my stomach is SO sensitive. I used to be able to eat anything and feel just dandy… But now, OH NO. If it’s not clean real food my body throws a FIT. Cramps up, just plain miserable. The worst part is, I don’t actually get SICK, I just get smacked in the gut with intense crampy pain and gross bloating feeling – and the PLEADING that I could just toss my cookies (me wishing this is not normal. I have an irrational phobia of all things barf related.)

I’ve more or less narrowed it down to dairy. I eliminated milk a LONG time ago.. I never really drank the stuff, anyway. Only with cereal or in my coffee. Almond milk was the best switch I’ve ever made. I LURV MY VANILLA ALMOND MILK. nomz… But I have a love affair with cheese. A fine cheese is one of my favorite things in the universe. Growing up my mom would often joke “have a little spaghetti with that cheese” ;)

I haven’t been eating cheese alone so much anymore, so that is the only reason I haven’t been able to completely pin point that THAT is the issue, it could be the gluten or various other things… But, SOMETHING has got to give.

So, I’m doing a 7-day detox cleanse, on Monday. The goal is to get all the toxins and crap out of my body/system, then see how I feel on a cleaner diet once the detox is complete. It will be much easier to pin point things knowing I don’t have a build up of crap going on in my system.  (Truth: I simply can’t afford to go to the doctor and get a bunch of tests done. Not at this stage. If I can’t take care of it or it gets worse, I’ll certainly listen to my body and go if need be!)

I’m also going to be posting a day by day meal plan for my detox week, for anyone who is looking to do a cleansing! :)

** DISCLAIMER: **

  • There are a lot of misconceptions that a detox is awful for you. Starving yourself and the like. That is not true. Even the “fasting” days you consume nutrients and calories. The rest of the week your calories will seldon dip below 1500 with the plan I’m using. (and is adjustable based on my fitness activity for the day) YOU WILL be consuming sold food
  • The most weight you’ll drop during this 7 day detox is water weight. So, if you’re trying to lose permanent weight, fast. – Sorry, this is not what you are looking for!
  •  I am not using any detox systems by any vitamin or supplement company. I am just cleaning myself out with natural products!
  • The goal is to rid my body of crap and gain energy & pizzaz that has been missing recently.


Green Goodness Jump Start Juice:

hand full spinach
2 LARGE kale leaves
1/2 cup Orange Juice
1 kiwi
1  banana