Life

Minimalist Living

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I know that those of you who follow me on twitter already know this but our things STILL have not arrive in Oregon. It’s a whole frustrating matter where the movers picked our things up on the 21st and were supposed to arrive by the 9th…here we are, the 17th of January, and now we are being told that the expected arrival date is the 24th. Needless to say we have been living very minimally.

Although we are really loving Oregon, Neil is doing well at his new job and Edith is adjusting it’s still been a pretty difficult process. You never know how hard it is to be without your personal possessions until you are going on a month without them. I am now regretting only packing a few non-lounge/workout tops because I either have to buy new ones or suffer through another week of clothing that is becoming more and more worn out.

The biggest challenge is not having my blender, cook utensils, pots and pans….basically my kitchen supplies.  I mean you know me I love to be in the kitchen. Currently, I have a spatula that is useless when it touches heat, a can opener that doesn’t open cans and only one small sheet pan that barely fits anything on it. We ended up buying some knives and frying pans to hold us over but it’s not the same.  Since I am without proper cooking materials I haven’t been doing much interesting cooking so no recipes…boo.

Although we basically have no furniture, no cooking supplies and I have been wearing the same three outfits over and over at least I have my running shoes and a few new workout outfits because I have been getting back at it. It is also great that we are in a really walkable area (Fact: Our apartment in VT had a walk score of 3; our apartment in Oregon has a walk score of 71).  I have been getting out for daily walks with Edith in the baby carrier, which really makes it a good workout.  Also we live in a third floor walk up so lots and lots of stairs (I’m working on those buns of steel).

Workouts this week have been lots and lots of walking including a tour around of the Japanese Gardens (so beautiful even in the winter).  I also have done some yoga on Daily Burn which was great. I am going to do some more walks and yoga this week and then next week I am back to running.  I even ordered myself a new foam roller today because my IT band has been driving me nuts and oh did it hurt so good to get my roll on.

Well since Edith decided she didn’t want to sleep last night and I’ve been up since 3am I’m off to bed but I’ll leave you with a minimalist tour of our apartment.

Oh and just for fun I’ll show you how I entertain myself by putting E in her new baby bath tub with a ton of Quaker Pop Samples #thingsboredmomsdo.

 

Portland: While We Wait

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Since apparently our movers are off somewhere on a beach with their legs up and an umbrella drink in there hand, well that’s what I imagine they must be doing since they are already five days past due, we have been out exploring the area.  It’s pretty frustrating that they haven’t arrived yet but what can you do? Honestly this is probably the only time in my life I wish I had been unpacking my dishes than eating Voodoo Doughnuts….wait no I’d always rather be eating Voodoo Doughnuts who am I kidding?

 

On Saturday morning we headed downtown to get our Voodoo Doughnuts on and for good measure we chose 5 doughnuts to share between the three of us (my mom is here right now).  Although we ordered 5 we really only shared 4 because after a tiny nibble of one of the vegan cake doughnuts we decided it was awful and tossed it out and moved on to the vegan maple creme (hello yum). We also had to of course get some Stumptown Coffee while we waited in line for doughnuts which had us crossing off two of the top sites to see in Portland.

After crossing those two sites off we headed to Powell’s Books to cross a third top site off the list. This bookstore is insane and I could have spent days in there just browsing all of the books. The children’s book section is especially impressive and I can’t wait to bring E there when she is older. I am already planning a bi-weekly Voodoo-Stumptown-Powell’s tradition in my mind for when she is older where we will all share one (okay maybe two) Voodoo Doughnuts, Neil and I will get Stumptown Coffees and E will get a new book at Powell’s.

After Powell’s we all started to come off our sugar high and decided that we should eat some real food so we walked a few more blocks to Deschutes Brewery. I have to say I am in beer heaven around here and Deschutes has a really beautiful brew pub in Portland. Neil and I got the veggie burger and some avocado for E and my mom and I shared a sampler while Neil had his own. The food was good and the beer was so good- my favorite was the White IPA.

The remainder of of our Saturday was spent at Ikea trying to pick up some new things for the house but we ended up being pretty unsuccessful since our rental car is on the smaller side and our car doesn’t arrive until at least Friday.  So we picked up a few little things and made a list of what we need to go back for next weekend.

Since our things did not arrive on Sunday we headed out for more adventures, this time we took a little drive to Multnomah Falls. Neil and I have been dying to visit since our canceled Portland trip two years ago.  The drive was beautiful and the falls even more so although it was pretty icy and freezing so I can’t wait to go back in the summer when we can also do a little hiking.

So far we are in love with the area and I can’t wait to do more exploring and of course hit up a few food carts- any recommendations?

Head over to Naturally Family to check out more photos of our adventures this weekend. 

 

The Holidays Won

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I have no good excuse for my absence the past few weeks besides the holidays and moving.  By the end of the day I have had no desire to go on the computer and most nights have been in bed around 9pm.  To top things off I let the holidays win when it came to eating.  I will admit it right here and right now I haven’t been eating great.  If you follow me on MyFitnessPal (runwithtongs) you’ll notice that there have been lots of carbs and chocolate being consumed.  I have been feeling a bit more sluggish and tired out which is a combination of letting my healthy eating slide, being crazy busy with moving and now Neil is in Oregon having take care of Edith on my own.

The best part of falling off the wagon, as one might say, is that you can get back on and what better way than with the support of others?  I have decided that if I want to accomplish my health goals that I need support and have turned to #StartClean2013 to do so.  First I set out my goals and then yesterday I made a really tasty kale salad and today I took note of how much water I drank (8 cups so far incase you were wondering).

I am so proud of myself for seeking out a supportive group of people to help reach my goals and I’m so ready to make small changes to see big changes.

 

Christmas Where Are You?

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Since we have spent the last month up to our ears with making moving plans and packing we haven’t really been thinking much about Christmas.  Today that all changed, we finally are out of moving mode (temporarily anyways) and it’s time to focus on spending the holidays with our family. The movers came and cleaned out our place and now I am sitting at my parents house in the middle of nowhere Vermont in the middle of a snowstorm with the fire roaring and a (lame) Christmas movie on TV.

The best part was a soon as we arrived at my parents house there was a nice big box from Allie and Blue Diamond Almonds Team.

I can’t wait to share all these goodies with my family!

Boy was I surprised to find this extra treat in my box….

Sites & Eats

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I was hoping to be back sooner to write about our new adventure but things are crazy busy around here.  We have movers coming Friday or Saturday so we are trying to finish packing up the condo plus Neil is still working and I have recipes to finish up writing for the month and oh yeah there is that annual holiday coming up.  Here are a few photos of what’s been going on around here lately (no photos of our mess of a home though):

The (Real) Big News

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So now that we established we are not expecting baby #2 (or 3) let me tell you the real news. We are picking up and moving 3000+ miles away from our current home.  It has been such a struggle these past few weeks not to share this information because the move has basically been consuming my life. It is also why I have had less fitness and recipe posts as well. From the time Neil was offered (and accepted) a new position at a new company to moving day we have had one month so with the holidays, finding a place to live, finding movers, having a baby to care for and other commitments we have been busy busy busy.

I have so much more to tell you but right now I’m going to watch Edith sleep and snuggle with her when she wakes up.

Today I am focusing on sending love and warm thoughts to the families involved in Fridays tragedy in Newtown CT. I am holding my baby girl and husband a little bit closer these days and being thankful for my family and friends.