Time

I never have enough of it. And yet, I spend so much of it doing things that don't fill me with joy or excitement or feelings of enrichment.

For Lent this year, I'm taking a chance at something my church calls "The Leap of Faith." It couldn't have come at a better time and I'm so thankful to have the opportunity to take part in this with others. I won't go through the whole thing here but for me, this Leap of Faith is opening up a world of opportunity where I can do the things and be the person I want to be.

I'm letting go of a few things that don't enrich my life and in fact, have started to dampen it. One of the more trivial sounding "fasts" I'm going on is of Facebook. It sounds pathetic but for me, Facebook has become not only a time suck where I could be spending more quality time with anyone and everyone and getting more done around the apartment during the week, but also a source of self-doubt, anxiety, and envy about other people's lives.

I am happy. I am so, so happy in where my life stands today. I am so excited and fulfilled by training for the marathon, I have the funniest and most loving roommate of all time:), I really enjoy my job, I have health, I have amazing friends, and there are so many things I can and should be grateful for at every moment of the day. Still - I find myself focusing on the negatives and my anxieties about what may come of the future or of how people perceive me and my character so.much.of.the.time.

Through this Lenten period, I want to free myself of the negatives and actively pursue (and enjoy!) the positives that are happening around me. I can't begin to imagine how much time I'll be able to free up if I can truly step away from these all-consuming worries - not to mention the black hole that is Facebook.

And maybe, just maybe, I'll have more time for the beautiful act of blogging.

Be Proud in 2013

Resting up for 2013 at 12:00:06 am

Happy New Year!

I've made a lot of resolutions in the past. Specific ones. Some I've followed through on and some I haven't (ahem, like blogging more). Some that were activities and some that were fundamental changes. 

This year, I'm going back to some basics. 

Work hard.

Be kind. 

Stop worrying about what other people think.

Be someone I'd look up to.

Stop being ashamed of being so lame.

Be proud that I can fall asleep anywhere.

Apple Pie Balls

They're even better than they sound.

I spend time on Pinterest for work (...I know...) and therefore now have a sick obsession with everything on it. Mostly food and skinny people, which is some sort of evil combination that just leads me to look at pictures of beautiful kitchens instead.

Anyway, I found this recipe here and altered things a bit. 

So here it goes.

Ingredients:

2 large apples 

1 box of 9' Pillsbury Pie Crusts (I used both of them)

rolling pin

3 inch cookie cutter (I used a small glass bowl and anything with subtly sharp edges works)

2 tbs. sugar, and more

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and more

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

flour

1 egg

Preheat oven at 425 degrees.

Directions:

1. Remove skin and chop apples into inch by inch pieces - you can also use a tiny ice cream scoop to make them even circles but my ice cream scoop makes Morgan sized ice cream mounds (i.e. NOT small). Set aside.

2. In a small bowl, combine sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. 

3. Combine mixture with apples and set aside. 

4. Sprinkle flour on your surface and roll out the pie crust dough. Tip: Keep in the fridge until this point to make handling it easier. With your cookie cutter or bowl or other apparatus, form circles with your dough. With a rolling pin, roll out the remnants of the dough and repeat until there's no extra dough left.

5. Place one apple piece every dough circle, Note: You'll need one apple piece for every circle and vice versa.

6. Gather all sides of each dough circle and pinch at the top. Be sure to really pinch this so that your pie balls don't explode in the oven. It's OK if you see apple peeping out. Place each ball on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. (I didn't use any paper...not a good idea). Repeat until finished.

7. In a small bowl, beat your egg with a few teaspoons of water. Brush over the top of each pie ball. 

8. Use the remaining sugar/cinnamon mixture (ok, maybe I made a LOT more) and sprinkle generously over the top of each pie ball.

9. Place in oven for 14-16 minutes or until crust becomes golden on the outside.

10. Place on cooling rack (or burn your mouth like I always do) and enjoy with a heaping mound of vanilla ice cream.

Enjoy! Would LOVE to hear if you try these and if you do something differently!

MMMmmmmmm....

Cleanse Recap

If you think these drinks look adorable, like they seem all stacked in a row, I challenge you to do this three-day cleanse. I haven't written an update in a week because just SEEING juices 4 and 6 makes me queasy. 

Here are the facts:

1. I felt light as a feather when it was all over. It was amazing.

2. I threw up twice in three days and felt more nauseous than I've felt since that one time in college when...nevermind.

3. I could barely sit through a meeting.

4. I created a power point presentation for work, including typos like Susan B. Komen for the Cure instead of Susan G. Komen. Minor details.

5. I had a pounding migraine for 70 hours.

6. I was never once hungry.

7. I usually sleep like a BABY and couldn't sleep.

8. Day 1 was awesome and everything else was horrible.

9. I no longer felt light as a feather after eating one normal meal.

10. I am more conscious of what I eat now.

11. I yearn for the light feeling I had when I woke up on those days but never want to struggle with sleep. 

12. I do not regret doing this but I will never do it again...ever.

Thoughts on Day 1

8:30am: I worked out this morning and drank a ton of water. Feel great.

9:45: Drinking warm water with lemon as instructed. Soothing and great. I could drink this all day!

10:35: Juice arrive. Wahoo!

10:45: I LOVE the first juice. It tastes awesome and very similar to other juices I’ve made. Trying to slow down and savor.

12pm: People are making good-smelling lunch things. Thanks guys.

12:45: Pineapple & Ginger Juice. It’s fine..not great. Refreshing!

1:35: I just finished the second juice. Not hungry and feel energized to do work!

2:00: Quick change of events. I officially feel not very good. I’m really tired to the point of very low productivity and feel sorta sick. I don’t really want to drink anything else… I feel like I might puke. Ew.

2:35: Essential green juice is bland but fine. I don’t feel like puking anymore so that’s good.

3:30: Energy levels back to normal. Whew.

4:28: You don’t realize your unhealthy obsession with food until you can’t have it. Staring at a food blog

4:35: Young Coconut. Gag me.

5:55: Throw away the rest of the drink. I’m gona hurl.

6:28: Bit of a headache but feel pretty good. Nervous about more drinks.

6:45: Red Essential (Beet, carrots, and other things). Not that bad, manageable but I didn't finish it. I'm sick of drinking things.

8:00: Brazil Nut Juice. Thick and daunting but somewhat pleasurable. I feel kind of nauseous and really don't feel like finishing this or anything else. Not hungry but getting tired fast.

8:45: Too tired....must sleep..no more juice...just give me sleeeeep.

Middle of the Night: Nauseous to the point of agony. Restless a bit and getting a headache.

Pick a Peck

Two worlds collide.

My obsession with apple picking and anything remotely seasonal and annoying.

Jordan's love for sports, sports and more sports. 

We missed the first half of the game for this.

We were only here for 3.5 minutes. 

But I got a whole mess of apples. And did a lot of happy dancing to celebrate before Jordan left me and demanded we leave immediately to listen to the Redskins lose on the radio.

The pictures speak for themselves.

Cleanse

 

Yep, I'm doing it. A 3-day juice cleanse by Cooler Cleanse with a few people at work.

I've been feeling gross lately and am hoping to kick-start my energy level and flush out all those toxins. 

So far, so good! I'll keep you posted throughout.

Oh, and I've posted twice this week already if you haven't read them yet. I'm on a roll!