My Weekend in Rolla

February 2, 2015 / ktbuchs87

Hopefully you are all digging yourself out of the snow or maybe you’ve decided to just hunker down and hibernate through this storm. I’ve done a little bit of both. I didn’t do my normal run this morning because there is still snow EVERYWHERE, but I did make a quick trip to the store. I plan on spending the rest of the day inside working though.

I actually had a really great weekend. Thursday I made my way down to Rolla, Missouri to visit my friend Ashley! I hadn’t seen her since she came to Chicago in September so we had some catching up to do. And let me just say we lived it up in Rolla!

We went to the vacuum cleaner museum. Yes this is a real thing. Fun fact, old time-y vacuums freak me out. I don’t know why but they look evil and I feel like they are going to attack me.

Cleaning in the 1920’s with a creepy demon vacuum

We saw the world’s largest rocking chair on historic route 66. Sadly you can’t climb up and sit on it.

We drove through Cuba, MO and looked at a few of the murals and then we spent the rest of the day going to antique stores finding the creepiest children’s toys. Seriously, who made those things? Definitely have demons inside them.

We talked, laughed, ate (delicious taco salads and my Turmeric-Scented Mushrooms), watched Friends and a whole season of The Killer Speaks. Ashley and I are a unique kind of fun and like macabre things like shows about serial killers. Another fun fact, you have a very high chance of being murdered in Missouri. Three out of the five serial killers interviewed on the show were from/killed their victims in Missouri. Good times. Good times.

Sadly, I had to cut my trip a little short and come back early so I could beat the snowstorm. It was great to hang out and laugh about ridiculous things though. Sometimes it’s nice to break out of your normal routine and spend time with friends even if they live in a place where you might run into a murderer…

Have a great Monday and try to have some fun after you dig yourself out of the snow!

When To Take A Break

January 19, 2015 / ktbuchs87

I have tried a variety of diets over the years. The fad diets would lure me in with their promises of fast weight loss and happiness and I would commit with a gung-ho attitude. I stick with the program and did what I was suppose to do and most of the time was met with moderate success. But there would always come that point in my diet where I would take a break.

I would have lost a few pounds, I would feel better about my body and therefore myself and I felt like I could get back to life as regularly scheduled. The diet had done what it was suppose to do and I could move on. I never viewed these diets as lifestyle changes and that is what helped perpetuate the cycle of losing and gaining weight.

There finally came a point where I realized that I couldn’t just change my life for a few weeks and then take a break while I went back to my old lifestyle. I had to make a lasting change that would go on forever. It sounded daunting, but I knew that I needed to take a big step if I wanted to be healthier and finally enjoy life to the fullest. So I flipped a switch in my brain from diet to lifestyle change and got on the path to a healthier me.

And it worked. While it was really tough at first to think that I would never be able to go back to what I used to eat if I wanted to keep moving forward, I fought my way through and got lasting and healthy results. I wasn’t taking a break this time. I was all in and I was never going to change. But weirdly, that kind of got me into trouble again.

I had committed so much to being the healthiest me possible that I scared myself from straying at all. I couldn’t miss a workout, I couldn’t overeat, I couldn’t choose the wrong food or everything would come crashing down around me. That switch that I had flipped got stuck in the opposite direction and now I was worried about failing and returning to the unhappy person I was before.

It was an important lesson that I had to learn to be able to move on. I couldn’t view the way I ate and exercised as a temporary change but I also couldn’t be so afraid to stray that I was rigid in every aspect of life. I had to learn to be flexible and trust myself to do what my body needed at the right time. So how do you know when you reach a happy medium?

By trusting yourself.

When you first start, it’s going to be hard. You’re going to want to eat like a million Big Macs and you’re going to want to sit on the couch rather than do a 30 minute workout. It’s really hard to let yourself take a break at this point because it will be so easy to slip back into your old habits. Once you start to realize that all your old habits have been replaced with new and healthier ones it’s a little bit easier to see where you have wiggle room.

While I don’t personally believe in having a “cheat” day or meal (it just doesn’t work for me), it’s ok to know that one meal is not going to destroy what you have worked for. If you notice that your body is sore and achy and the thought of heading to the gym for your workout makes you want to cry, then it’s ok to take a rest day. That’s your body’s way of saying, “Hey, I need a break here!” That’s ok, rest days are good. Enjoying life is good. Being flexible and able to adjust to the situation is good.

It takes a little bit of practice to find the right balance for you and your body. Be kind to yourself as you discover what works for you and what doesn’t. Remember, it’s what you decide to most of the time that is going to impact your overall health not the tiny slip ups every now and then.

My Word: Passion

January 12, 2015 / ktbuchs87 / 2 Comments

Last week I talked about my goals for 2015. I like having something to work towards and I’m a list person, so I love crossing things off my list once I have accomplished them. I think it’s important to have something that you want to do so that you can organize your efforts and get where you want to be.

I have seen a few posts in the blog world about choosing one word to help focus the entire year. After reading a few of these posts (here, here, and here) I really started to like the idea of taking one word and using that to fuel my goals. It’s a simple concept and it’s easy to follow through. Two things that make for a lasting habit. So I’ve chosen my word for 2015.

Passion.

For a few years now, I have struggled with my true passion. The main problem is, I didn’t have a clue what it was. Since college, I have had a few ideas of what I wanted to do with my life and where I wanted to channel my passion, but nothing ever seemed to fit. I loved music and thought that was going to be my life. That changed quite a few times since college and this summer I was left wondering what it was that I was suppose to be doing. I had a lot of ideas but no clear cut path. Once Adam started his new job, I decided to take that time and really figure out what I wanted to contribute to society.

After a lot of soul searching and a few tears, the one thing that I found was that my big passion is to help people with their health. I knew what it was like to go through getting healthier. I knew what it was like to want to quit. I knew how confusing it all was. I want to make the path easier for those who are just starting out. That’s what a lot of my goals for 2015 are focused on and I want to use passion to pursue them full throttle.

So I’m going to put passion behind every choice and move that I make this year to help make my goals and dreams come true. I might not have a clear title for what I want to do with my life, but I do have passion for helping others and I want that to shine through everything I do.

How about you? Pick a word that you want to use to focus and propel you through 2015. Share it here and then make it happen! Have a great Monday!

My 2015 Goals

January 5, 2015 / ktbuchs87 / 2 Comments

Happy New Year! I hope that all of you have had a great holiday season and you are ready to get going on 2015! I was able to spend some quality time with family this week and enjoyed having my husband around while he was on break from work. Now it’s time to get back to our regularly scheduled program and I have so many things to share with you!

I’ve never really been one to make resolutions, but I do like having goals that I am working to achieve. I wanted to share some of my goals here on the blog because it’s helpful to have a place where you can be kept accountable as well as stating your goals out loud. So here are my 2015 goals.

Keep working on balance.

I started this a few months ago, but it is something that I am still working on. I want to be more balanced in my life. For so long when it came to my health I was super strict. I had to be or else I would have gone right back to my old habits. Now that I have gotten to a place in my life that I am happy with my health, I don’t have to be as rigid in my habits. If I don’t run every day, I won’t lose any ground. If I decide to eat more than I normally do, I won’t immediately gain weight. If I take a few days of rest, I won’t slip back into my old habits. Life happens and I want to be able to enjoy it and roll with the punches and not feel like I am losing everything that I have worked for. I’m doing better but I want to improve throughout the year.

Make a fitness goal.

Looking back I have never really made a fitness goal other than work out. So this year I want to make a fitness goal and then work towards achieving it. There are two things that I want to do this year. The first is to run a race with a family member. For me running has been a very solitary sport, and in some aspects I really like that. I like the peace that I find out on the trail early in the morning. I can sort out my thoughts and just enjoy the quiet. But I would love to be able to share my passion for running with people who are close to me. My second fitness goal is to run a half marathon. Ultimately I want to run a marathon, but I think a half would be a good place to start. I’m aiming for the Chicago Rock ‘n’ Roll half marathon in July, so check back to see how I’m doing on that!

Expand the blog

This summer I did a relaunch of my blog and made it a little more user friendly. I want to keep growing though and be able to reach more people and help them towards their health goals. I’m going to add more recipes and simple tips that I use for being healthier. I’m also going to start adding short videos that show how to make some delicious and healthy meals. My ultimate goal for this blog is to help show people that it doesn’t have to be hard/complicated/expensive to be healthy. By adding more tips and videos that can showcase this, I think that I will be better able to serve my readers.

Grow my knowledge

I haven’t been in a formal classroom setting for about four years now and while I’m not jumping up and down to return, I am finding myself wanting to learn more about things I love. A few months ago I became certified in sports nutrition and I really enjoyed that. I want to expand on that and better educate myself so that I can better help others. I am looking into becoming certified in nutritional therapy as well as getting a plant-based nutrition certification. The more I know the more I can share and help you!

Share the wealth

One of my final and biggest goals for 2015 is to start working one on one with people. Of all the aspects of being healthier, cooking and food are definitely my passion. I want to start working with people to help teach them how to cook healthier for their everyday lives. I’ve been teaching myself and honing my own kitchen skills over the years and I think that it’s time for me to share that with you! I will be working on this for the next few weeks and once I have a solid plan ironed out I will make sure that you are the first to know!

So that’s what my 2015 is going to entail. I have a lot of big goals and dreams that I want to accomplish and I am excited to start working on making those happen. I hope that by making these all public it will help me stay accountable and get things done!

How about you? Do you have any goals for your year that you want to share?

A Very Dawson Christmas

December 29, 2014 / ktbuchs87

Hello! I hope that you all had a fabulous Christmas and were able to enjoy time with friends and family. I know that the Monday after a holiday can be a little bit of a bummer, so I thought that I would share pictures with you of my Christmas celebration to cheer you up. There are even pictures of cats, so they are automatically better!

Adam and I have started a little tradition by celebrating our own Christmas after actual Christmas. We spend the day in our pj’s watching Christmas movies, opening presents, and making delicious food. This was our third year doing this and it was one of the best!

Our Christmas tree and the stockings hung by the (faux) chimney with care. Plus the first of many pictures of Olaf. It was his first Christmas and I think he loves it just as much as I do. Our other cat Dot wanted nothing to do with the festivities and slept in the bedroom all day long.

Speaking of cats, of course they have their own stocking and we fill it with new toys for them. Olaf actually managed to get all of the stuff out of the stocking all on his own. He liked the laser pointer and this yellow stuffed dog the best.

He’s pretty adorable. Us humans open our presents over the course of the day. Every time we start a new Christmas movie we open another present. I would say that this year was a good year for both of us. Adam got a new beard trimmer, a t-shirt, books, and candy. I got a new teapot, oven mitts, and books/cookbook. Apparently we both think alike because our big gifts to each other were new bags. I got Adam a new leather messenger bag for work so he could look all fancy and professional and he got me an awesome new black purse that is much better than the bright orange paisley tote bag that I have been using for the past few months.

This is his happy face. Back off ladies he’s mine

Super excited about this book. And you can see my fancy new teapot down in the corner

The other fun part of our Christmas is making a bunch of food that we don’t normally make. This year we made pretzels, which were really easy and fun to make. I also made some fried plantains and egg nog, devoured before I could take pictures. For an appetizer I made spinach/artichoke dip without any dairy (so good, I’ll share the recipe soon!), and we had some pumpkin chips to dip. Then for Adam’s dinner I made slow cooker italian beef and he made homemade buns. I had some delicious butternut squash seasoned with some new seasonings I got from Adam’s side of the family. It was an awesome feast! There were also a variety of cookies and treats for dessert!

Pretzel maker extraordinaire!

Christmas is one of my favorite holidays and I really love that Adam and I have been able to start some of our own traditions. On actual Christmas this year we were able to spend the day with both sides of our family. We started the day with my parents and my sister and her fiance and then headed over to Adam’s grandparents for Christmas dinner and were able to see his (many) aunts, uncles, cousins, as well as his mom and his stepdad.

Overall it was a fabulous holiday. We were able to spend time with so many family members and shared and made plenty of new memories. My heart is full and I can’t wait to see what the new year brings! Have a great rest of the week and Happy New Year!