What’s Fun and What’s Not Fun

June 15, 2015June 15, 2015 / ktbuchs87

This weekend can pretty much be broken down into what was fun and what was not fun. Luckily the fun stuff outweighed the not fun stuff and I enjoyed one of my very few free weekends this summer.

What was not fun:

Taking two cats on a 30-minute bus ride to the vet. It was time for Olaf to get his one-year wellness check-up and update his vaccinations and since Dot hadn’t been to the vet since before we moved to Chicago we decided to take her too. Bad choices all around. Since we don’t have our car we had to ride the bus to the vet. Neither cat was pleased with the loud bus and Olaf yowled as loud as possible for the first 15 or so minutes. Cue me freaking out that we’re bothering all the passengers and would get thrown off the bus. When we finally did get to the vet it was time for Dot to freak out. She would not sit on the table, would NOT let the vet tech take her temperature, hid under the chair in the room, and growled/hissed/scratched at everyone that came near her. The vet did manage to give her the vaccinations and Adam has a nice big scratch to prove show for it. Olaf was just fine and barely even noticed that he was getting an exam. As an extra special bonus, the bus ride back home was packed to the brim with Cubs fans because of course we chose a game day to go to the vet. One bright spot of this whole ordeal was that the bus driver on the way back was super nice to us and made sure that our cats were comfortable and safe. Overall, I never want to do that again and I’m pretty sure Dot is still angry at us for subjecting her to all of that.

Olaf has forgiven all and wants to be held. Now

Poor girl is pooped from her trauma

Trying to get good food pictures with minimal space and light. We have two windows in our apartment and because of the way our apartment is situated, we get very little natural light. This makes taking pictures for my blog slightly difficult. At first I thought it was impossible but I’ve gotten creative and learned how to make what I do have work for me. It does lead to some interesting positions though. Good thing I do yoga!

What was fun:

Going to the farmers market. We finally got to go to our favorite farmers market. Because we have been busy pretty much every weekend since the Green City Market opened up, we haven’t gotten a chance to go. This weekend though we finally made it and it was of course awesome. All the fresh fruit and vegetables make me happy and I could wander around the market all morning if I could. Adam was happy to get his first Donut Vault donut of the season and even more excited that they had his favorite, lemon poppyseed. It’s the only way I can get him to come with me!

He’s trying not to stuff the whole thing in his mouth

Purple asparagus. I’ve seen green asparagus and I’ve seen white asparagus, but I had never seen purple asparagus. While we were at the market we saw these and of course I had to get them because they were purple. Best. Decision. Ever. They were so delicious and simple to prepare. All I did was drizzle them with a little olive oil, sprinkle them with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, squeeze a little lemon juice over it all and roast at 400 for 15 minutes. They were a little sweeter than green asparagus and I could have eaten like 5 more bunches. Too bad I discovered them at the end of asapargus season.

I’ll try any purple fruit/vegetable

Fruit crisp. The farmers market pretty much just led to all sorts of good things this weekend. This fruit crisp is proof that you should go to the market more often! I made Adam a strawberry rhubarb crisp with fruit we got from the market. He deemed it delicious and probably would have eaten the whole thing in one sitting. Which is quite the compliment.

Overall, it was a great weekend and I really loved having the free time to do some fun things and spend time with Adam. Here’s to another great week!

What did you do this weekend?

Monday Funday

March 2, 2015 / ktbuchs87

Ok, so Monday isn’t really all that fun but maybe if we say it enough it will be true. Probably not, but let’s pretend.

Last weekend my husband, Adam, came down with a cold/cough/sore throat and was out of the game for a few days. We took him to the doctor, got him some meds, and he is on the mend. I thought I had escaped whatever bug he had but Friday morning I woke up with a tickle in my throat and by Saturday my nose was running like a faucet. Yesterday my head was all congested and I just wanted to be able to breathe through my nose. Luckily I didn’t get hit as hard as Adam, but still, it’s no fun to have a cold.

My feeble attempt to try and breathe through my congestion. Also I look HOT

So I spent this past weekend trying to take it easy. Keyword here: trying. I know that I need to rest to get better faster, but I am really bad at just sitting around. I like to be accomplishing something at all times, it’s something I’m working on.

In my “resting” state, I spent some time in the kitchen on Saturday coming up with a few new recipes for the blog. I have a few that need some tweaking, but I did manage to come up with a new soup and it really hit the spot for someone with a cold.

When I did finally manage to sit on the couch, Adam and I binged on House of Cards. If you have not watched this series, run to your TV/computer and watch all of them now. The Underwoods are deliciously ruthless and evil and I love them. It’s one of those situations where you know it’s wrong to cheer for them but you can’t help but hope for them to come out on top. This season so far (we’re about 6 episodes in) has been pretty good and I can’t wait to see where it ends up. Also, is it wrong for me to want to be as badass as Claire Underwood? I mean in one episode the woman threatens a country with war on the toilet in the women’s bathroom at the UN. That’s ballsy right there.

In between the awesomeness of House of Cards, I also watched a few episodes of Chopped. Obviously I love watching cooking shows and Chopped is one of my favorites. While I was watching I realized as much as I love to cook and create dishes I would never make it past the appetizer round. I would get so stressed and would probably just throw up my hands and cry in the corner. I like to take my time in the kitchen and there is no way I could come up with something edible and creative in 20 minutes. Oh well, I’m sure someday Food Network would come up with a show where I would have unlimited time, unlimited ingredients, no judges, and I get to make whatever I want, right?

Hopefully this cold goes away soon and I can get back to my normal routine. But let’s end this post on a high note with a picture of my adorable cats, because who doesn’t love pictures of cats? Crazy people, that’s who. Have a happy Monday everyone!

Olaf chilling to the max and Dot allowing him to be near her.

How did you spend your weekend? What’s your favorite show of the moment?

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!

How To Rest

October 1, 2014 / ktbuchs87

How many of you feel like you are constantly on the go? From work to deadlines to extracurricular activities to whatever else you have going on in your life, it can sometimes feel like you never stop. All that action without pause can tire you out and start to wear down your body as well as your health. In the fitness realm, rest days are just as important as working out. Rest days allow the muscles you’ve worked to heal and recover so that you can become stronger and better. I think that is a great concept that needs to carry over into regular life. If you never take time to stop and recover, you won’t have as much energy to give to other aspects of your day. It can be tough to slow down if you’re always used to moving fast, so here are a few ways that you can help yourself rest.

Unplug

This is one of the biggest, and toughest, ways to rest. If you’re anything like me, you are constantly plugged into your phone/computer/tablet/whatever electronic at all times. Your email is only a click away, people know they can call you whenever because your phone is always nearby, you’re constantly updating your status/tweets/photo, you even have gotten rid of your alarm clock because it’s all on your phone. While it’s great that you can do all these things from the palm of your hand, it can be draining to always be on. I know we can’t totally give up social media, we can try to lessen time spent on it. I’ve started to limit my phone/computer use on the weekends. At first it was a little tough, but after a few weekends without always being on my iphone, I realized how recharged I felt. Try giving yourself a one hour break from all social media/electronic devices. Enjoy some face to face time with your friends or read a book (a real one, with pages and everything). Your emails, tweets, and Instagram will all be there when you get back.

Pencil It In

Actually schedule some rest time into your day. Maybe you have a few extra minutes in the morning that you can spend alone preparing for your day. Or take some time right before bed to relax and unwind. It doesn’t have to be hours and hours of time, even a 10 minute chunk of time can be enough to help you feel rested. If you make the effort to really schedule some down time into your day, you are more likely to stick to it.

Do What You Like

When you do have a little time to rest, do things that you enjoy and find relaxing. Not everyone wants to sit down and read a good book for a half an hour. You might like to light candles and do yoga while others find it calming to go for a walk around their neighborhood. There is no wrong way to take a break as long as you actually take a break. Try different things like bubble baths, meditation, listening to music, or just sitting by yourself. Find what works for you and helps you to feel recharged.

Don’t Feel Guilty

This was and still is a tough one for me. I always felt guilty whenever I would take a little break. I felt like I needed to be doing something productive or else I was just wasting time and being lazy. I would rather run around all day checking off my to do list than take some me time for just five minutes. Then I started to think of taking a break as being productive rather than lazy. If I took just a little time each day to recharge then I was more able to tackle my to do list. Don’t feel bad for having a little bit of me time each day. In the end it is better to take a little rest than run yourself ragged.

If you find yourself exhausted and ready to drop by the end of each day, try taking just a few minutes to rest. I know it may seem silly and like a waste of time, but trust me, it’s worth it. Giving your body and mind a short break can help your overall health and that is always a good thing!

Are You Projecting?

August 11, 2014 / ktbuchs87

My husband, Adam, and I went to Indianapolis this weekend to watch the DCI world championships. We’re both big band nerds and watching drum and bugle corps perform is something that we both love to do. We had about a five to six hour trip back home and long road trips are always a great time to talk about any and everything. One of the topics that came up was health, go figure. I tend to eat very differently from the way that most people eat. It can make it a bit tricky to go out with a big group of people, especially for someone like me who doesn’t like a spotlight shone on me.

I tried to explain to Adam why I get a little stressed out when I have to deal with a group outing that involves food. I don’t like to be an inconvenience to others and I always feel like the way I eat is a major inconvenience to the general public. Whenever someone asks, “Where should we eat?” I inwardly cringe. I know that the real question behind that is, “Where can Katie eat?”. As I got to think about this a little more though, is that really the question or is that just how I am perceiving others to feel? Am I projecting my own feelings onto them? The short answer, probably.

Do you find yourself doing this? You feel that how you choose to eat or workout or live your life is a little bit outside the general norm and that in turn puts the people you come into contact with off. It tends to bother me when people demand things be a certain way just to make their life easier. I totally understand that in some cases, people need to demand the way they eat for the sake of their health. Those who have Celiac’s disease HAVE to avoid gluten in every way possible or else there can be major medical complications. They deserve to have their food prepared in a way that is safe to them. Other people though have abused things like Celiac’s or lactose intolerance or other eating issues just as a way to lose a few pounds or because it is the fad of the moment. I am not here to debate whether this is right or not, I just know that I don’t want to contribute to the difficulties some face by having to eat a certain way for medical reasons. Because of my desire to avoid that issue, I realized that I am projecting my own feelings onto those around me without ever really knowing if that is how they truly feel.

When I think about it more, I am pretty positive that most people do not care that I eat differently. They probably do not feel overly burdened with trying to accommodate me. When they ask me what can or will I eat, they genuinely care about my answer and don’t think that I am being demanding or a spoiled brat. That is all in my head. As I told this to Adam on our ride home, his response was to just relax. Try not to worry so much about what other people are thinking. Because I am not a person who demands that things need to be a certain way or else I won’t participate, most people are happy and willing to help me out. I would imagine if you feel this way too, you might be overthinking the situation exactly like I did. Making the choice to be healthier and to eat in the way that makes you feel good and allows you to be happy is something that I fully support. Much to your surprise, your friends and family will feel that way too. As long as you aren’t throwing a temper tantrum if something isn’t exactly the way you need it or demanding that they do it your way or the highway, the people around you will be more than happy to work with you. And if you want some tips on how to help them accommodate you, check out this post.

Don’t project your own feelings and insecurities onto others, because like in my case, you’re probably wrong. Try to relax, enjoy time with your loved ones, and don’t worry about what people think. You will have a much better time, I promise!