Monthly Archives: October 2012

Thankful Tuesday: My Family

It’s time for the three thanks I give for the day! However, today my three things may be more like 4 or 5 because my family is giant and all of them are awesome.

Today and everyday I am thankful for, in no particular order:

1) My stellar parents. They raised me to be a self-sufficient, confident, ambitious woman. They never let me doubt my abilities and were always there when I started to. We joke that I only call them when I’m crying so when we don’t talk, they know everything is fine. How wonderful is that? Parents that never need to hear from you unless it’s to pick you up and put you back on your feet. I love my parents for how amazing they are when I was growing up and for what great people they are now that I’m an adult and can recognize it. My parents are my friends above everything else and we have a great time together. I am SO thankful they’re mine 🙂

^This was one of the many times they came to visit me in Boston.

2. My Gran and Chuck. I’m first generation American which means that not much of my family lives in the US and even fewer of them were around growing up in San Diego. They used to have us over for weekends just so they could spoil us! We would walk the dogs and then Chuck would take me to Major Market for the best hot chocolate on the planet. Then we would come home to a beautiful warm house and more delicious food from Gran. Gran and Chuck are always around when I just need some comfort. When no one else is saying the right stuff, Gran is on the other end of the phone, waiting to listen. I am SO thankful to have them in my life.

^ Gran and I on graduation day!

^Chuck and I at one of my first triathlons.

3. My siblings. Oh what to say about this rowdy lot. It’s kind of weird to think that, not too long ago, we fought like crazy. We really did dislike each other. But, alas, we have all grown up a ton in the last several years and are starting to find that we’re all friends. There will always be a part of me that’s very sad I missed out on so much of their lives while I was away in Boston; but I guess the happy result is that we now all see each other as adults. They’re such amazing people, each with their own weird personalities, and we have a fantastic time together. I call each of them for different advice and they all perk up my mood in different ways. All three of them are wonderfully fun and crazy and I am so happy to be able to grow old with them. My ultimate goal is to live as near as possible to every one of them.

^ I know what you’re thinking, “Dang! That is a good-looking bunch.” 🙂

4. My extended family. Like I said, I’m first generation American so most of my extended family lives in Britain or Australia. Despite how little I get to see them, I love them all. Unfortunately, it’s been several years since I last laid eyes on some of my cousins but I know they are all doing great things with their lives (thank you facebook) and can’t wait until we can party together sometime soon (hopefully).

^ Some Scottish family mixed with some New York family. It’s so rare but so wonderful.

5. My ex-pat family. In the absence of my extended family, my immediate family formed a sort of bubble of ex-patriots in San Diego. For the last 10 years we all gather at every holiday to eat, drink, and laugh. All the parents have become like second sets of parents for me and all the kids, my friends. We are a close-knit bunch and, although we don’t talk that often, it’s a huge comfort knowing I’ll see them for the next holiday. They became my family when my British family couldn’t be around.

^Just a few of the friends I call family.

Of course, I’m in tears after writing all that. I am so thankful for all these people but so sad that I can’t just surround myself with them everyday. I miss them all, each and every one. A lot. But I’m putting the smile back on my face because you couldn’t find a luckier girl.

^ One last picture to send you on your day. This is our family at the Rugby Sevens in Vegas last February.

What are you thankful for? I promise it doesn’t have to be as long as mine 🙂

Motivational Monday: Why?

Sunday Recipe: Hummus!

6 Replies

Happy Sunday! Hummus is by far one of my favorite foods. I have realized that people either love it or they hate it. However, the awesome thing about making your own is that it’s cheaper in the long run AND you can adjust the ingredients so that it’s delicious to your particular taste buds. Also, hummus is a great source of protein to bolster protein intake for those of us that can’t afford organic chicken or grass-fed beef all the time.

^ I use a very basic recipe that I found in my small selection of cookbooks. If you’re trying to go gluten-free this is an awesome book. I know it’s pretty affordable on amazon, check it out here.

Ingredients:

12 or 14 oz. can organic chickpeas (garbanzo beans)

1 clove of garlic, crushed

1 Tbsp tahini (it’s ground sesame seeds and lasts forever)

2 Tbsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 ground cumin (great spice to keep around)

2 Tbsp olive oil

Instructions:

^ Drain the chickpeas. Then combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender. Blend it all up until smooth. Taste it and add whatever else you’d like to make it taste even better.

^ Quick tip I learned from my second momma, Debbie, squeeze the lemon upside down with a fork to avoid getting seeds into the mix.

^ Scoop it out and keep it in a Tupperware. Use it instead of ranch! I eat it over salad, with celery, apples, and carrots. It’s flippin’ good. Let me know how yours turns out!

Ashley Life Update: I got my mind into a good zone towards the end of the week and ended up doing really well and overcoming all the obstacles that had been haunting me early last week. I’m pretty proud of myself. Last night, after a long day of work, my friend Sara asked if I wanted to ride this morning. My immediate inclination was, “heck no!” but I decided to commit and go anyway. It was a chilly 40°F but it also made me realize how little outdoor riding is left in the year. I’m completely exhausted but happy I went out. On top of getting in about 35 miles, we spotted a train! Now the rest of my day will be filling with eating and relaxing. I really do love my life.

^ It is confirmed, I live in the midwest. Please note the tractor in the background. Also, this train was so long that I had time to fumble around with my frozen fingers, take about 15 photos and put my phone away before the train ended. Pretty crazy.

One last thing, my Gran always tells me that she loves reading my blog because it makes her feel closer to me; so from now one, she will be getting a hello. So…Hi Gran! Love and miss you!

I hope you’re all having wonderful days. Enjoy the rest of your weekend 🙂

Saturday’s Cause: Think Before You Pink

4 Replies

I had sort of promised myself that I wouldn’t write about issues that would cause a lot of conflict on this here “happy” blog. Most of the time I am unprepared for any rebuttals and just don’t want to stir the pot. But sometimes things just get ridiculous and I have to stand up and declare it. Some of you may not like this but hear me out. I have a bone (a giant dinosaur sized bone) to pick with the Pink Ribbon and Susan G. Komen.

First let me say: I hate breast cancer. I hate it. My step-grandmother died from it and my other grandmother, great-aunt, and best friend’s mom fought it and won (thank goodness). It’s an awful, widespread disease and we (meaning anyone and everyone) should be doing everything we can to stop it. Sadly, most of us are not going about it the right way.

Most of this information I found on Breast Cancer Action’s website. They clearly cite all of their sources and, upon further digging, I found the facts here to be well researched and true. “BCAction is a national, feminist grassroots education and advocacy organization working to end the breast cancer epidemic.” I have studied most of their website and publications and personally think that they are a great resource for facts but not so awesome at providing information on how each of us, as individuals, can contribute to the greater cause. Their main cause is getting the government involved in breast cancer prevention and stopping organizations that are making the situation worse. With that being said, I will only use their website for facts.

Let’s establish some ground rules, if you disagree with these I’m not sure you should read on:

1. Eating an unhealthy diet filled with trans. fats, hormone laden poultry, malnourished beef, sugar filled candy, and fried anything will definitely increase your risk of disease.

2. Using products with toxin chemicals in them, even in small doses changed your bodies chemistry and also greatly increases your risk.

Obviously there are a huge number of other potential causes, environmental and otherwise, and you can find some information on those here. But I will not dive into that because it’s not relevant to what I have to say.

On to the meat of this post! In past I was a frequent purchaser of Pink Ribbon products. If I had to buy something, might as well buy it pink and donate to a greater cause right? Oh how wrong I was. Susan G. Komen began right here in Peoria, IL and I will fight against them right here in Peoria, IL. According to their website, SGK was launched in 1982 and has had great success. They have raised almost $2 billion to cure and advocate for breast cancer. That, in itself, is incredible. It shows that the public really cares for the cause and just needs a place to direct their efforts. I also have no doubt that SGK started from an honest place in a very kind and sad woman’s heart. Unfortunately, what started as an incredible effort on the part of one sister to raise awareness and end the disease has turned into an unbelievably backwards organization.

Let’s cut the crap:

1. In 1970, 1 in 10 women developed breast cancer in their lifetime. By 2011 the risk had increased to 1 in 8 (National Cancer Institute).

2. 30-50% of all BC cases involve one or more of the following known risk factors: family history; early menarche (i.e., menstruation before age 11) or late menopause (age 51 and over); bearing children later in life (age 35 and over) or no childbirth; hormone replacement therapy; alcohol consumption; and exposure to ionizing radiation (e.g., x-rays, mammograms, nuclear power plants). This leaves 50-70% not accounted for by any of these things. (“Identifying Gaps in Breast Cancer Research.” California Breast Cancer Research Program. Ed. Julia Brody et al.)

3. In April 2010 the President’s Cancer Panel declared: “The Panel was particularly concerned to find that the true burden of environmentally induced cancer has been grossly underestimated [and] … the American people—even before they are born—are bombarded continually with myriad combinations of these dangerous exposures.” They urged the President ”to use the power of [his] office to remove the carcinogens and other toxins from our food, water, and air that needlessly increase health care costs, cripple our Nation’s productivity, and devastate American lives.”

So why raise a stink against Susan G Komen? They’re just doing the best they can to raise awareness and fund research. Right? MMM, not quite. It it obvious from the above facts that we can try as hard as we want to “cure” breast cancer but it’s just not working. Women, WAY too many of them, are still dying. I absolutely do not discount the survivors. There are many of them and, in my book, they rank as some of the strongest most admirable women on the planet. But why are we focusing on researching a cure rather than the cause and how, specifically, to prevent it? Why not encourage women to make their bodies a fighting machine? Encourage them to eat right, exercise, and make healthy decisions. Why not start from ground zero and make our way up to fighting what we still cannot prevent?

On that note, here are a some recent SGK promotions:

^ Promise Me perfume: At $60 a bottle, $8 of it actually goes to SGK. Based on their 2011 annual report, 19% of that ($1.50) per bottle will actually go to research. On top of that, it contains at least 2 toxic chemicals, Galaxolide (hormone disruptor) and Toluene (potent neurotoxicant banned by the IFRA).

^ In 2010, SGK partnered with KFC to sell “Buckets for the Cure.” 50 cents of every bucket sold went to SGK. Yep, buy some fast food fried chicken and fight breast cancer!

^ SGK has partnered with General Mills for their “Save Lids to Save Lives” campaign. By buying these sugary, chemical filled products and sending in the lids you are saving lives! Donate to SGK, provide lots of revenue for General Mills, and increase your own risk. Side note, before BCAction focused on the yogurt in 2008, all Yoplait yogurt was made with the hormone stimulant rBGH.

These are just some of the products that affect the human body in a negative way. Please read the “Think Before You Pink Toolkit”, found here, for more in-depth information.

So what do we do? Well, from now on, I will not be buying anything “pink.” I will not support a cause that is driving in the wrong direction no matter how pure the intention. And until I find another group that is looking for a cure AS WELL AS working to educate women on the daily act of disease prevention, I will do it myself. I promise to educate as many people as I can on having a good diet made of pure, nutrient rich food and an exercise routine that gets their blood flowing and their body fighting. I will not give my money but I will give my time and effort.

Now that I’ve decided, what do you think?

Friday Design: The Bike/Exercise Room

9 Replies

Alright, back by popular demand (kind of): Friday Design days! As you all know, Mike and I recently moved to Peoria, Illinois and we moved from a tiny space to a much larger one. Seriously though. We moved from half an attic and sharing a bathroom with another couple to a two bedroom apartment with a deck and a community pool. It’s awesome! Another awesome but expensive thing was that we had absolutely no furniture, aside from a bed, when we moved in.

I decided that I wanted to decorate this right by taking the time to paint the walls pretty colors and search for cheap, cool furniture. Until I found out that we weren’t allowed to paint the walls and no furniture is cheap. Haha. But alas, our apartment is pretty much done and we both love it. It’s comfy and cozy and has some really cool touches here and there.

One of our favorite rooms: The Bike/Exercise Room.

Our goals:

1. Keep our THREE race bikes, workout, outdoors gear plus everything else (like travel stuff) in this room.

2. Make sure it could double as a guest room.

3. Clear enough space so that I could do my daily workouts in there.

4. Make sure we could do all kinds of dirty stuff, like clean our bikes ;), in the room.

The Solutions:

1. Install our wall-mount bike racks and all the other nifty but ugly storage gadgets in this room only.

2. Find a cheap futon on Craigslist.

3. Keep everything off the floor and on the walls.

4. Cover the whole floor with puzzle-like foam mats. They’re cheap, comfy for workouts, and keep the carpet clean.

^This is before any kind of organization. It was a daunting task. Thinking back, I’m so glad it’s over.

^The same corner with our kits all hung up and a lot of our other gear in the closet (I really wish I could find my real camera for this). Everything on the walls are things that we loved but deemed not classy enough to be in our other living spaces.

^ Our beautiful bikes with our “bike care” center on the right and our new futon in the left corner. I was so stoked last week when we found the futon on Craigslist for $40! Also check out the floor mats. Bought those at a Menard (similar to Target) for $30 total. Everything else in the room we already had or “acquired” for free!

Anyway, I work out (and dance) in here every day and absolutely love it. I still can’t believe we have all this space 🙂

Ashley Life Update: Did the bad habit again last night and got a solid night’s sleep. Yesterday was a rough day for me, I was lacking motivation which is not allowed for my job. The sleep helped me wake up this morning feeling refreshed and ready to get people healthy. Pre-sleep experimentation will continue next week. Until then, I am going to look forward to sleeping in on Sunday.

I hope you’re all having great days and making progress in whatever area of your life that you’re struggling with.

xoxo 🙂

Thursday Thirst: Chicken Stock (15 min prep, 4 hrs cook time)

4 Replies

Ok, I know this recipe sounds really boring but hear me out! Chicken stock is the liquid that makes everything taste better and cheaper! I make my own every time I roast a chicken and end up using it for the next few weeks.

Before I give you the VERY EASY recipe, here are some ways you can use chicken stock:

1.When cooking rice, replace the water with chicken stock or do a 50/50 combo.

2. Stick it in your crockpot instead of water or cream or whatever.

3. Replace the water with it when steaming veggies.

4. Use it to make soup.

Basically just use it instead of water to make any savory dish SO much tastier.

Ingredients:

chicken carcass (Everything including the skin, bones, and stuffing. Gross I know)

chopped celery

chopped carrots

diced onion

any other veggies that are on their last legs

salt and pepper

garlic (optional)

Instructions:

Pile everything into a big pot and fill with water up to the top of the carcass (the more water the more stock).

Bring to a boil then cover and simmer for 4 hours. I left the house for errands then did a bunch of chores, you don’t really need to watch it. Every hour or so use a small cup to skim the foam off the top (I didn’t have any foam at all).

Turn off the heat, let it cool then freeze it! I use jars that I recycled to freeze mine but you can really use anything, including Ziploc-type baggies.

Now I have a freezer full of stock that I can use whenever. I just thaw a few a week and use them whenever the recipe calls for water (BOOOOORRRING).

Ashley Life Update:

On another note, I have been sleeping terribly lately because I’ve been trying to train myself off a bad pre-bedtime habit. I’ve been trying to drink a glass of wine before bed the last two nights but quickly realized that it’s a stimulant (whoops!). I used the bad habit yet again last night because I just plain needed sleep. Once I’m caught up, experimentation starts again.

I can’t tell you how guilty I feel about this habit because I just don’t want to rely on something besides my own body for something as simple as sleep! But Katie and I were talking this weekend and I think I just need to forgive myself for being imperfect and keep on pushing for my goals, it may just take a while.

Also, a new phone/camera is high on my Christmas list this year so the photos WILL get better! I swear. I hope you’re all having great days. Your challenge today: smile at everyone until you get at least 3 smiles back.

🙂

Workout Wednesday: Guide to Building Your Own Workout

6 Replies

Last Wednesday I had a crazy busy morning and didn’t have time to squeeze in a workout. I resolved to workout if I got a long enough lunch break or to just save it until after work. I am proud to say that I managed to workout, shower, eat lunch, get ready, and make a smoothie all within a 45 minute lunch break. That’s right, I am Wonder Woman.

Wonder Woman

In the end, all of my time efficiency comes from having a routine for each of these things. I had the blender on while I was getting dressed and I was eating lunch while my hair dried. It’s all about thinking out a plan on the car ride home and not dawdling even a little bit. Which is what I’m trying to do this very morning so moving on…

The workout I did was quite unique. I realized on the drive home that I wouldn’t have time to look up a workout with the lovely Zuzana Light so I made up my own. I just chose some full body exercises and a time crunch that would make me sweat AND hurt at the same time. Sounds like fun right??

Here was my workout:

3 rounds of 5 exercises. Do each exercise to the max for 40 seconds, rest for 20 seconds, start the next exercise. Repeat each round 3 times.

Exercises:

1. Pushups (from my knees because my pecks are strangely weak)

2. Crunches (with my legs straight in the air)

3. Squat to shoulder press (with weight, use water bottles if you don’t have weights)

4. Lunge Jump (lunge down then jump up and switch legs)

5. Leg raise (Lie on the ground and lift legs up to 90° angle, keeping them straight, then lower them)

This workout ended up being killer and I felt pretty awesome for formatting my own. Some rules to help you do the same:

– Make sure you know the correct form for an exercise before you do it alone. Wrong form makes you prone to injury. (If you don’t know, just google or youtube it!)

– Establish reachable goals for the workout like “I want to do 30 crunches in each 40 second time period.”

– Keep the whole workout under a time limit so that you feel like you’re really accomplishing something in a tiny bit of time.

– Record all your numbers so that you can look back and try again in a few weeks. Track your progress!

– Be proud of what you’ve done and build on it, nothing’s better than self-propelled success.

I repeat: nothing is better than self-propelled success. So get off your bum and get it done!

And be sure to SMILE in between grimaces 🙂

Thankful Tuesday: My Three Things

8 Replies

So I’ve mentioned her before but there is one blogger I follow regularly and she writes a couple of blogs. One of them is made up entirely of a daily post of three things she’s thankful for (check it out here). So, for us, this will be our Tuesdays! Gratitude journals are short, sweet, and helpful and everyone should have one in some capacity. So I’ll be yours. Yay!

1. Today I am thankful for the tiny town that made me appreciate tiny zoos. Thank you Peoria Zoo for getting me so close to giraffes, my favorite animal of all time.

2. I am thankful for old friends (Katie and Mike) and their willingness to accompany me to local farms to pick a pumpkin. Also, this farm has tons of wind turbines which makes it extra awesome.

3. I am thankful for the week of work I have ahead of me. Although getting out of bed can be hard, I love my job, my coworkers, and all the people I get to help everyday. Let me at it!

Alright. Let me have them. Seriously, what are your three things for today? It takes 2 minutes and makes you that much happier.