Roasted vegetables and dippy eggs!

The lunch of champions!

At around noon, I roasted some Brussels sprouts after tossing them in olive oil and garlic salt while I sautéed about a quarter of a chopped red onion.

Once the vegetables were ready, I placed them in a bowl with a handful of walnuts and topped them with two dippy eggs, allowing the yolk to drip all over the vegetables. 

So incredibly good. If you haven’t tried using egg yolk as a “sauce,” I highly recommend it!

I also had an apple and a Babybel light cheese. Sweet + Salty!

Regret

On my morning walk with Sadie today, I listened to NPR’s TED Radio Hour podcast on “The Pursuit of Happiness.”

The podcast featured three different speakers with one, Kathryn Schluz, speaking specifically about regret.

Three tidbits I found really interesting (according to Kathryn):

• Of all the regretful feelings experienced by people, the most regret surrounded decisions made relating to education (what we studied, lack of education, what we did with the education that we did get)
• Regretful feelings surrounding decisions relating to careers, relationships and parenting followed education, but were also strong
• People also noted feeling significant financial regret, though these feelings weren’t as intense and didn’t seem to “stick” like other regretful feelings

The statistic surrounding the regret people feel about education stated that 36 percent of regretful feelings experienced by people pertain to decisions made regarding education.

I found that fascinating.

I’m not sure why it was especially interesting to me, but I cannot help but notice just how many of my peers seem to be changing directions in their careers right now. I did it myself last year!

I turned 27 last month, so I suppose this makes sense. My friends and peers studied one thing, gave it a shot in the “real world”  for a few years and realized it wasn’t what they wanted to do for the rest of their life. Off the top of my head I can think about one friend who is currently a news anchor, but is hoping to break into advertising. Another is an editor who wants to study psychology and become a counselor. Big changes!

My bachelor’s degree is in advertising and public relations. My minor is in marketing and I learned very quickly that a career in marketing just wasn’t for me. (You may read a bit more about this time in my life here.)

While part of me wishes my educational background had something to do with health, nutrition, exercise or wellness, I still feel like my major is beneficial to me in my field (specifically the public relations aspect). I don’t have regret about the decisions I made surrounding my education, but I do have a lot of “what if” questions that swim through my head surrounding a bunch of different career paths.

Question of the Afternoon

• Do you have any regret surrounding decisions you made regarding your education?

I hopped on and off the treadmill a handful of times and I’m pretty sure the guy running on the treadmill next to mine thought I was some kind of a nut job.

All that crazy jumping around was totally worth it because I completed an awesome 45-minute treadmill workout that absolutely flew by. Seriously, I felt like I was working out for maybe 20 minutes.

Check it out:

All of the exercises noted in bold were completed off the treadmill (duh), so there was a lot of hopping around and changing things up. The perfect recipe for a workout that keeps boredom at bay.

I got the idea for the workout from the June issue of Fitness magazine where they detailed a 40-minute treadmill workout that incorporated squat jumps, jumping jacks, crunches and pushups. I figured I could change it up a bit and do something similar and ended up loving this workout.

Breakfast

Breakfast this morning was an egg wafflewich!

I toasted two Van’s waffles and topped them with a slice of muenster cheese, two fried eggs and raspberry jelly.

Eat up, buttercup!

A cup of hot vanilla caramel coffee rounded out my morning meal.

Time to get crackin’ on a new freelance assignment. See ya after lunch!

P.S. For my fellow Bachelorette fans, I watched the first episode last night and my two favorites were Doug, the single dad who got the first impression rose (loved the way he talked about his son!), and Ryan, the sports trainer who works with kids. Don’t let me down, guys!

Continuing the series of PBF reader-submitted stories about amazing volunteer experiences, Lauren, Nikki and Ashley share about their experiences with Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Big Brothers Big Sisters is the nation’s largest donor and volunteer supported mentoring network. The organization makes meaningful, monitored matches between adult volunteers (“Bigs”) and children (“Littles”), ages 6 through 18, in communities across the country and aim to create positive relationships that have a direct and lasting effect on the lives of young people.

You may find more information about Big Brothers Big Sisters on their website by visiting this link:

• Big Brothers Big Sisters

Lauren’s Story

Hi, I’m Lauren and I volunteer as a mentor for Big Brothers Big Sisters in Lane County.

In January of 2011, I filled out my application and attended mentor training classes for BBBS. Almost immediately, I was matched with a seemingly shy 6-year-old girl who I was told liked crafts and was pretty outgoing. Over the past two years, she has opened up a lot and I have learned how to have more fun and be a kid at times.

Over the past two years my relationship with my mentee has grown and we have done a TON of fun things together, including canoeing, hiking, kid friendly yoga, bowling, painting pottery and so much more.

One of the aspects of my life I have tried to share with my mentee is healthy living. Whenever we hang out, I bring a nutritional lunch or snacks for her (pb&j on whole wheat, oranges, bananas, carrots,dried mango slices, etc.) and water. Additionally, I try to incorporate some kind of movement into our time together. After all, going to the park and having a picnic is FREE and FUN whereas other activities may not be.

My volunteering experience has not only taught me more about how kids operate, but has made a positive impact on a young person’s life.

To read more about my busy life – including marathon training, healthy eats (and the occasional sweet) and other shenanigans, visit justcallmesassy.blogspot.com.

Nikki’s Story

I’m a teacher in an inner-city school district and every day I go home wishing I could take some of my kids home with me so they would be able to eat dinner, walk my dog with me, or at least watch TV. I decided last year around this time that I wanted to get involved in an organization to be involved on a whole different level with kids that would allow me to give the love to kids they need outside of school.

My search led me to the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. This program matches a child (a “little”) from an under-privileged home with an adult (a “big”) who wishes to donate their time. After going through the 4-step process to actually become a big sister, I was matched with my little, Nafeesa. It was nerve-wracking meeting this 10-year old girl for the first time. I’m a teacher so I thought this would be a breeze, but the “what if she doesn’t take well to me?” and “what if she doesn’t want to do the activities I have planned with her?”thoughts wouldn’t go away.

Luckily, my worries were put to ease when I met her. We clicked instantly and have spent so much time together over the past 6 months. We’ve gone ice skating, roller skating, sledding, to the zoo, to play at the park. We’ve baked cupcakes, made fun breakfasts and treats to bring home to her mom. I wouldn’t trade my time with Nafeesa for anything. I look forward to each time I spend with her!

Ashley’s Story

Hi everyone! My name is Ashley and I’m from Toronto, Canada.

I’ve been involved in the volunteer sector for as long as I can remember and have loved each and every experience. My long standing passion for charity even translated into developing my career in the not-for-profit sector!

I’ve always known how fortunate I am to have a great family and friends, a good education and access to resources that are often taken for granted. Volunteering and giving back is a great way to get more involved in the community and to feel that you’re really doing something important.

I had the opportunity to volunteer as an after-school tutor to a child in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. I was involved with the organization for four years and had a phenomenal experience.

Twice I week I would meet “my child” at her school. We would share an after-school snack, talk about how our weeks were going & review academic performance over the week, complete homework and set goals together. Though my primary responsibility was to tutor, it really involved providing support and mentorship in all aspects of the child’s life.

The majority of children in the program come from a disadvantaged background or broken family situations and struggle with both school work and aspects of their personal life. What I loved most about this program was that each year the mentors were assigned to one student for the entirety of the school year. This meant that very close relationships formed between my mentee and me and I was able to see the impact of my work. With practically every child I mentored, I saw an improvement in grades, self-esteem and their ability to open up to me about various problems they were having in their personal life – from bullying to simply having a crush on a boy in their class.

Volunteering as a mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters was such a great experience and something I’d like to pick up again. I really recommend it for anyone who’s interested in working with children one-on-one and who wants to feel that personal connection to a cause.

Thanks so much to Julie for providing us with an opportunity to share our volunteering experiences! Giving back is so important and I hope that reading these stories will inspire everyone to get out there and get involved.

***

Additional volunteer stories include:

• Girls On the Run
• Back On My Feet
• Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation

For my fellow circuit workout fans, the Circuit Workouts page was updated this morning!

I added a small handful of new workouts to the bottom of the page underneath the “NEW Workouts” section.

I like to be overly obvious like that. Hope you enjoy!

Lunch

For some reason my lunchtime seems to be getting earlier and earlier. I normally eat closer to 1 p.m., but by 11:30 a.m., I was ready to eat.

I think I was ready to dig into my midday meal early because I was so excited to eat this salad.

When I bought the watermelon and feta cheese yesterday, I knew this salad was in my future!

I usually make the watermelon and feta cheese salad with arugula rather then spinach, but bags of fresh, baby spinach were buy one, get one free at Publix, so the cheap bag of greens reigned supreme.

On the side I had some fantastic G.H. Cretors all natural kettle corn.

It was sweet and salty and had a delicious buttery flavor. It reminded me of the authentic kettle corn I’ve purchased straight from the kettle at the Downtown Orlando farmer’s market that somehow keeps me going back for handful after handful.

The company sent me the kettle corn and the Chicago Mix (cheddar cheese + caramel popcorn) to try and both were incredible. Ryan and I ate the entire bag of the Chicago Mix in one sitting on Sunday as we hung out on the couch.

Most Popular Baby Names of 2011

Last night when I was blogging on the couch and Ryan was browsing CNN.com, he told me that the most popular baby names from 2011 were released and Noah, the name of our friends’ Dru and Carrie’s baby, made the list!

For some reason silly information like this interests me far too much, so I immediately had him list the top names:

(Source)

Today I noticed a lot of follow up articles on the internet about the release of this information, but the little nugget of information I found most interesting is that the name Jacob has held the number one spot for boy names in the United States for the past 13 years!

Sophia beat out Isabella, the front runner from the past two years, to claim the number one spot for girls.

Where is Julie!?

I’m actually quite fine with my name not being a “top name.” I’ve met a small handful of Julies in my life, but not a ton, and yet everyone knows how to pronounce it and spell it. It has been good to me.

Question of the Afternoon

• From the above list of top names, what are your two favorites?

For a boy my favorite is Ethan. For a baby girl, I like Emma or Ava.

Of Possible Interest

• Full Body Circuit Workout (FitSugar.com)
• 25 Best U.S. Cities for Walking (Fitbie.MSN.com)
• Interview with Yours Truly on Healthy Page (HealthyPage.com) 

I didn’t realize that The Bachelorette didn’t start until 9:30 p.m. last night and went until 11 p.m. What the heck is with the late start time!?

Since I figured the first half hour would be dedicated to recapping Emily’s previous journey and I didn’t feel like staying up late, I DVRed the episode and plan to watch tonight. For those of you who watched, are there any guys who caught your eye? I got a text from one of my girlfriends this morning telling me about a super sweet single dad.

Instead of watching The Bachelorette, I spent some time before bed wrapping up the PBF May Book Club book, Still Missing.

(For those of you who asked about my shoes in this picture last week, they are Nike Free Run in Tropical Twist and were a birthday present from Ryan.)

Has anyone else finished this book? The first half was really disturbing and almost too much for me, but I really liked the second half. It was intense and had an unexpected twist!

Workout

Since I got to bed nice and early thanks to DVRing The Bachelorette, waking up at 5 a.m. wasn’t too painful.

Ryan and I started our workouts with 10 minutes on the stair master and then I did 10 more minutes on the elliptical before completing a workout that I tore out of the June issue of Fitness magazine.

It was basically a total-body circuit workout, but it wasn’t too heavy on lower body movements which was a good thing since I just worked out my legs yesterday and my hamstrings are a little sore today!

Breakfast

Today’s breakfast was an old blog world favorite!

I remember when I first discovered healthy living blogs at the end of 2008, it seemed like everyone was making The Fitnessista’s breakfast cookie.

Last night as I was eating a spoonful of peanut butter, I remembered her peanut buttery breakfast cookie and pulled up the recipe on my phone and prepped it which made breakfast this morning a breeze. 

I didn’t follow her recipe exactly (I added a bit more oats and peanut butter), but it came out great. After topping it with a sliced banana, I dug right in!

Question of the Morning

It’s a random one…

• If you had the opportunity (assuming you are single if you are not), would you ever want to be on The Bachelor or The Bachelorette?

I actually secretly submitted an application for one of my girlfriends to be on the show and she got a call back in February! She already started dating someone by the time they got back to her, so it didn’t work out, but we were pretty excited! (Her grandparents were horrified at the thought of her being in a hot tub with a bunch of guys on national television so they’re happy it’s a no-go.)  The people from The Bachelor actually followed up with my friend a few times since then but she’s still happily in a relationship. Kinda cool!

Night one of New Recipes Week was a success!

Inspired by a recipe from Cooking Light magazine for Hummus “Cheesesteak” Hoagies, I made a fantastically cheesy hoagie, topped with hummus and sautéed sweet onion slices. 

The bread made this hoagie extra special. I bought a foot long loaf of fresh, whole grain bread from the Publix bakery today and cut it down the middle. Ryan and I each had half and both raved about how fresh and nutty it tasted! 

After topping the bread with a thick slice of muenster cheese, I placed it in the toaster oven so the cheese would melt while I sautéed a thinly sliced onion in a bit of olive oil.

Once the bread was done toasting, I topped one half of the hoagie with hummus before folding the bread together.

The hoagies were enjoyed with a spinach salad topped with strawberries, walnuts and pomegranate dressing.

After dinner Ryan and I took Sadie on a 30 minute walk.

During the first half of our walk, we got caught in a sun shower which actually felt quite nice and offered sweet relief from the heat that is already kickin’. Summer is here in Florida!

Plans for this evening include watching The Bachelorette (YAY!) and sorting through the scraps of paper with various workouts jotted on them that have taken over my gym wristlet.

I love keeping a variety of workouts in my teeny gym bag but my current stash is out of control and I cannot zip my wristlet!

When I’m feeling indecisive at the gym, having a plethora of workouts at my fingertips really helps to motivate me. I simply dig through the wristlet until I find one that jumps out at me. I don’t need that many workouts, so I’m hoping to toss about half of the ones you see above and regain control of my wristlet.

Sleep well!

Lunch today was tuna salad salad.

Double the salad, double the fun.

I made a batch of tuna salad and served it on top of a bed of shredded lettuce.

In addition to the moisture added to the salad by the tuna salad, I added a small Sabra Hummus Singles cup to the mix for some additional flavor.

I also sipped on a bottle of Hint strawberry kiwi water from the Fitness Magazine Meet & Tweet swag bag.

As a flavored water fanatic, this water was right up my alley. The water contains no sugar or artificial sweeteners and just a hint of fruity flavor. I’m a fan.

New Recipe Week

When I was wasting three hours at the airport as I awaited my flight back to Florida from Boston on Friday, I took some time to flip through several magazines (and eat a red velvet cupcake).

Recipe after recipe started calling to me from the pages of the magazines and I quickly realized I haven’t changed up my evening meals in quite a while. I’ll follow the occasional recipe, but I seem to default to making similar dinners week after week. (Broiled salmon. Every week.)

While I want the dinners I make to be fast, I don’t want to sacrifice flavor for time and flagged a handful of recipes that looked healthy, simple and made me feel excited! All too often, Ryan and I tackle dinner quickly and our meals have become rather routine and mundane.

I’d like to put a little more effort into getting excited about dinner and am declaring this week “New Recipe Week” in our household. Each night we’ll be making a new recipe we’ve never tried before to hopefully put a little pizazz back into our evening meals.

Our current lineup (in no particular order):

• Hummus “Cheesesteak” Hoagies 
• Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Caramelized Onions and Goat Cheese
• Greek Frittata
• Baked Goat Cheese and Strawberry Salad

I’m already excited for dinner and it’s not even 3 p.m.! I think that’s a good sign!

Question of the Afternoon

• How often do you try new recipes?

No matter how much fun I’m having on a trip, by the end of it, I’m always anxious to get home.

I missed this face!

My mother-in-law once described her home as her “sanctuary.” She said it is the place where she can always go to unwind. It is a peaceful, happy place. A place of comfort and love.

I couldn’t agree more! Something about being home simply puts me at ease.

Workout

Another benefit of being home is getting back in the gym!

Today I completed 20 minutes on the elliptical before I did a leg workout that looked like this:

Obviously my weight for squats was lower than the weight I would typically select since I was doing so many reps.

It felt good to feel the burn after a few days away from strength training.

Breakfast

Breakfast this morning was a favorite around here.

Overnight oats topped with a sliced banana!

Chewy and filling. A winner!

Question of the Morning

• If you could describe your home in one word, what word would you use to describe it?

I would select “comfort.” If there’s one thing I feel when I walk through the doors of our house in Ocala, it’s an overwhelming sense of warmth and comfort.

Since my flight from Boston flew into the Tampa airport on Friday night (there isn’t an airport in Ocala), I planned to stay at my parents’ house in nearby St. Pete for the weekend since today is Mother’s Day and I wanted to spend it with my mom! 

My family and I had plans to attend an early morning church service followed by a special Mother’s Day brunch at Marchand’s at the Renaissance Vinoy.

We’ve been to Sunday brunch at the Vinoy a small handful of times before and it is always absolutely incredible. It’s the perfect place to celebrate a very special occasion since you can sit and relax for as long as you’d like and take your time visiting all of the different buffet stations that are packed with fresh, high-quality food.

My whole family started brunch with hot tea and let it steep while we hit up the buffet for round one of a two-hour eating extravaganza. (Side note: I totally thought you let tea “seep,” but I just double checked and apparently it “steeps.” And now we know!)

I did a quick lap around the restaurant to see what I wanted to tackle first.

And then I saw it…

Snow crab claws! Decision made.

I filled my plate with crab claws, sushi (I ate two pieces before snapping the picture), clams and vegetables. The crab claws were easily the highlight of the meal.

Round two included more crab claws and sushi and a bowl of seafood from a “seafood hot pot” that included mussels, clams, scallops and shrimp.

Mother’s Day mimosas!

For my third visit to the buffet, I filled a parfait cup with the beautiful fresh fruit and a few slices of smoked gouda cheese.

In between each visit to the buffet, my family and I had a great time simply hanging out. We made sure to relax, take our time and just enjoy being together.

My mom eventually kicked off the final round: Dessert!

I started with the little chocolate dessert that was about the size of a shot glass and so, so good.

I couldn’t pass up the macaroons!

Or the made-to-order churros!

The churros were my whole family’s favorite dessert.

I also filled a plate for myself that I called the “dessert sampler.”

I initially planned to just take a bite or to of each, but I ate almost every single thing on the plate. It was just too good!

After dessert, we headed home and I packed up my bags and hit the road for Ocala. I was so, so excited to see Ryan and Sadie! I missed those two!

We’re off to go for a quick evening walk before hopefully calling it an early night.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers and mothers-to-be out there!

Kaella shares her experience with Crohn’s disease below and details the solace she found in volunteering with organizations related to her condition and the impact the positive attitude of children struggling with their own health conditions had on her life.

The wonderful organizations Kaella mentions below include:

• Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada
• Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America
• The Painted Turtle 

****

I lost my Nana to a disease I’d never heard of when I was 15. Before she got sick she was always healthy and extremely active. She was a young grandma who taught me how to play badminton and took me on a shopping date every professional development day.

My Nana and Gaga lived with us growing up. She was my best friend and I lost her on August 10, 1999, the day before her birthday. She died from complications from ulcerative Colitis.

Fast forward five years.

I was starting my career in broadcast journalism. I had recently been hired as a news reporter and anchor for a radio station in a small town. I was anxious to be over twenty hours away from my family and friends, but excited to begin my dream job.

The pain started almost immediately.  At first, I thought it was just stress. I had a hard time getting out of bed in the morning. I had stabbing pains in my stomach and couldn’t keep any food in me. I had to be near a bathroom at all times.

It wasn’t until I saw blood in the toilet that I decided to see a doctor. Six months later, after multiple surgeries and several “wrong”diagnoses I found out I had Crohn’s disease. Crohn’s is another form of Ulcerative Colitis, otherwise known as Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

The same disease that took my Nana from me.

IBD affects any portion of the digestive tract, from your mouth to your anus. It can cause severe abdominal pain, bloody diarrhea, loss of appetite and bowel rupturing. It also affects the way your body absorbs nutrients.

The disease caused me to lose 50 pounds in three weeks. People were asking me if I had an eating disorder. They didn’t understand why I was always in the bathroom. I was on dozens of medications and dealing with the fact I would have this disease for the rest of my life.

Worst of all, there is no cause and no cure.

I did what I think most 20 year olds would do; I took a few months to feel sorry for myself. During that time, doctors found a fistula connecting my small bowel and bladder. I was rushed in for emergency surgery and had four feet of small bowel and half my bladder removed. I spent 40 days in hospital and weeks recovering at home.

It was during this time at home I decided I was done feeling down and ready to do whatever I could to make a difference in the lives of those affected by Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

I contacted my local chapter for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada and, because of my media connections, they elected me to be their media spokesperson at my first meeting.

I spent two years speaking to other reporters about the disease and organizing and promoting local events to raise awareness and funds to find a cure.

I attended a national meeting in my second year with the foundation and found out they were planning to develop a youth group. I immediately submitted my name and was elected Chair. I spent the next two years creating a group called “The Gutsy Generation.”  The group helps those age 15-25 who are living with or affected by IBD.

Most cases of Crohn’s or Ulcerative Colitis are diagnosed in that age group.  It’s a time in your life when you are going through so much; your first day of high school, choosing a college, starting college or beginning your first career. I wanted to help connect this age group, who, if they were anything like I was when I was diagnosed, were likely feeling alone.

It was during my time on the youth group (formally called the “Youth Advisory Council” or YAC) that I decided to do something.

I wanted to spend more time with young people who were living with IBD. I did a little research and found The Painted Turtle. The camp, located in California, was started by Paul Newman and offers children whose medical conditions wouldn’t otherwise allow them to attend camp the chance to be a “normal” kid for a week.  There are camp locations across the United States.

I had the opportunity to volunteer as a camp counselor and spend a week with children age six to 16, who were living with IBD. We went zip-lining, fishing,swimming, sung around a nightly bonfire and took part in a very fun and extremely messy obstacle course. I loved every second of my week with them.

In the past, I’ve learned that this disease can hold you back if you let it, but all of the kids had such positive attitudes. They didn’t let IBD run their lives. Despite all the volunteering I had already done, I walked away from this experience a new person.

After I “graduated” from the Gutsy Generation I became chapter president and most recently began serving a three year term on the Board of Directors. I fly to Toronto four times a year to talk about the future of the organization and how close we are to finding a cure.

If you’re affected by IBD, or just want to volunteer for a great organization, I highly recommend either the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada or the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America. 

Whether you have one day a year, or a few hours a month to commit, you can make a difference.

The Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada and the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America offer so many fun and educational, events and are always looking for help. There is an annual bbq, walks, runs, seminars and more!

Eight years after first being diagnosed with Crohn’s disease I can say, without a doubt, that volunteering has changed my life. 

I love it and continue to do it for myself, those I have met along the way, but most of all, for my Nana, who I miss every day.

***

Additional reader volunteer stories:

• Girls On the Run
• Back on My Feet